


Matt for America

by Cam719, westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-14
Updated: 2010-10-14
Packaged: 2019-05-15 05:22:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 28,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14784324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cam719/pseuds/Cam719, https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: The 5th installment in the Angels and Demons universe. Matt Skinner runs for President.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

Okay, I’ll admit this to you, and nobody else, because the idea might be a little crazy, but I think Elizabeth Bartlet would be a great Secretary of State. She’s got everything a Secretary of State needs.

Well, except for experience.

I’ll have to put a pin in that one and come back to it. She’d give me a black eye for even suggesting it anyway.

It’s a good thing that Toby isn’t here because he’d freak out if he heard me talking like this… thinking like this, I mean. You know, it’s a good thing Toby’s never been able to see inside my head, because I’d be dead a few times over if he could.

I think the cold is affecting my brain.

Donna and I argued back and forth about the setting of Matt’s announcement to run for President. I won, of course, and it’s on the steps of our elementary school, but Donna wanted it to be on the water. I said it might look too elitist, too ‘New England rich boy’. Donna argued that first of all, Matt WAS an elitist and New England rich boy; and secondly, so was President Bartlet and he had a high approval rating, so maybe the comparison isn’t so bad.

She was hot when she was making her argument, but I still didn’t let her sway me. I’ve got enough image issues with Scott up there standing right next him, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else. 

Sam ghosted the speech, which I’m sure is going to send Toby right over the edge. Ideally, I’d like to recruit Sam, but we can’t afford him.

Matt looks every bit the Rhodes Scholar delivering his address. He’s a very energizing public speaker. He reminds me a little of Jack Kennedy, though I’d never tell him that because he’d kill me.

All three Bartlet daughters are in the front of the audience, despite the protests of the senior staff. Ellie wanted to be here to support her husband’s best friend. Liz and Zoey argued that if Ellie got to be here, so did they.

President Bartlet was right; NOBODY handles the women in his family.

Chris is here too, which I thought was a bold move, not that any of the Sunday morning pundits would be surprised…or they might be, given his very vocal support over the last year of Former Vice President Hoynes. 

Matt’s talking points are solid and he’s booked on the morning show circuit this week. I’m concerned about the budget, but in the meantime, I’m more concerned with getting him out there.

He was in the public eye plenty back during the MS hearings for the Republican Party, but once he defected to Independent, it’s been hard getting him into the news cycle. There have been rumors about him running for President since he changed his party affiliation, so how a gay candidate isn’t making the news is a little beyond me. Maybe if I throw myself in front of a bus…well, no, then I’d be the story instead of Matt. And I don’t think I can get Matt to throw himself in front of a bus.

Wow. Are you listening to me? I used to be a coherent person and then my best friend decided to run for President.

“He’s doing well,” Donna says leaning up against the car with me. She’s bundled up so much that she looks kind of like an Eskimo.

“He’s not tanking,” I reply.

“Is that what you’re going to tell him? ‘Well, you didn’t tank.’ That’ll be confidence inspiring, Josh,” she says as she rolls her eyes.

“I’m not here to boost his ego.”

“I still think we should be by the water.”

“I went to school here, you know,” I reply. “That doesn’t interest you at all?”

“I’ve seen it.”

“Still…I’ve got history here. In fact, Matt and I met on that very playground over there.” I point over to the side of the building for emphasis.

She gives me a slow blinding smile that never ceases to warm me inside from my toes right up to my head. It also makes me lose my train of thought. I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that this angelic creature was meant for me. She says something, but I completely miss it.

“Josh?” she says, waving her mittened hand in my face.

“Hmm?”

“Where’d you go?” she laughs.

“Sorry, what did you say?”

“I said I’d love to see where you went to school.”

“Oh, okay,” I grab her hand in mine and drag her across the parking lot.

“Josh!” she laughs, drawing a few looks. “Now?”

“Sure,” I say. “Besides, I think its better that I lay a little low for a while to keep Matt the focus of today’s story. I don’t think I should do any spinning for a bit yet.”

“You’re the boss,” she says, unconditionally following me. I like it. It’s symbolic. She’s got absolute trust in me, which also completely freaks me out.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

“Where the HELL were you, man?” Matt demands as he and Scott walk up to us in the school hallway outside of the office.

“Showing Donna the school,” Josh replies casually.

“You were unavailable at the end.”

“For?”

“Questions!”

“Right. And I will remain so for a bit longer.” 

“Not this shit again,” Matt sighs and rolls his eyes.

“Nice mouth on a PRESIDENTIAL candidate,” my husband shoots back looking around the hallway for stray reporters.

Boys.

“What happens when you’re ‘underground’ and I say the wrong thing?”

“We get free press.”

“This is not your job,” Matt says petulantly as we walk towards the exit. Scott looks like he wants to make a run for it and not stop until he hits Canada. I know the feeling.

“I don’t remember ever actually being OFFERED a job. I just recall getting TOLD I was doing this.”

“I find people are more agreeable if you don’t give them the chance to make up their own minds,” Matt shrugs unapologetically. 

“Too bad we can’t employ that philosophy in the election,” I say. Matt finds it funny; Josh not so much.

“You look like you survived,” Josh says to Matt as he scrolls through his Blackberry messages.

“Well, Chris and the Bartlet girls sort of took care of the spin,” Matt says as we reach the double doors to exit the school. 

We all stop and look over to where each of the girls and Chris Wick seem to have their own dedicated reporters around them. 

“Well, that’ll go over like a lead balloon with the folks,” I mutter.

“Forget the folks,” Josh says. “Toby and CJ are probably having a nutty right now.” Just as he says that, his phone trills and he sighs as he sees the caller i.d. scroll across a White House number. “Oh, oops, missed the call.” He slides the phone into his pocket where it immediately starts to ring again.


	2. Matt for America

Get me out of here. That’s all I can think. That, and ‘what the hell was I thinking’. Matt’s campaign is about an hour old and I’m already regretting my decision to help him with this. What does he need me here for? I can’t campaign worth shit. Plus, standing next to him just serves to remind everyone that he’s gay. That can’t be good for him. Josh goes on and on about people being more accepting of someone who is in a long standing, committed relationship, but he’s never been gay and I’m just saying there are some things he just doesn’t understand. People are going to eviscerate us just for being us. They’re not going to care about a long standing committed relationship. 

“Scott, you did great out there today,” Donna tells me. She’s really very sweet. My expression must say she’s full of shit. “No, seriously, you looked great and it seemed like you were very interested in Matt’s speech even though you’ve heard it a hundred times already. You were very gracious with the VIP’s. You made a great first impression.”

“It’s the second impression that concerns me,” I admit. Matt and Josh are walking ahead of us so I keep my voice down. “I don’t know what I’m doing out here. Explain again how my standing at Matt’s side doesn’t hurt him.”

“It won’t,” she answers but she doesn’t explain until I give her another look. “We learned this in his last election. People don’t need you to remind them Matt is gay. The people who have a problem with that are going to have a problem with that regardless of who he’s with or campaigning with. The people who don’t care about it, or don’t care as much, are going to feel better about it knowing you two are in a committed relationship.”

“Right…Heterosexual people know the level of animosity towards gay people right?” I ask just to be sure.

Now she gives me the look. “Yes. I read the man’s mail, remember?”

“I’m just saying that by dinner people are going to be seeing editorials and nasty cartoons about us.” 

“Scott, if you can’t…if you don’t want to do this, now is the time to say so,” she advises me. “Matt will understand.”

“I thought you just said…”  
“I did and I stand by it, but if you’re just going through the motions to please Matt you’re going to have an ulcer within a month. Campaigning is hard work and you have to be all in to make it work. Matt’s been very clear about that.”

I stop walking and Donna stops alongside me. “I want to help Matt. I think he’d be an exceptional President. He’s a good man, Donna.”

“I know that.”

“Yeah, I guess you do,” I say with a smile. “I’m really nervous that I’m going to screw things up for him; make things worse by saying or doing the wrong thing.”

“Of course you will,” she chuckles. “You’re new to campaigning. I’d get really comfortable with the idea of screwing up. And here’s a little secret for you: even seasoned pros screw up, so relax! Look at Josh and his Secret Plan to Fight Inflation. We’ll help you through every step of the way.”

She nudges me along so we start catching up to our men.

“Matt took a chance on me when I had zero experience, and he took the time and effort to teach me. So now I’m paying it forward. That’s why our family is on the road.”

“That’s another thing. How can your family just pick up and hit the road like this?”

“We’ll have help with the twins and it’s not like they’re in school yet or anything. Working on campaigns is a family tradition.” 

“Oooookay,” I say reluctantly. “If you think we can do this, I’m in, but you better be ready to spin my mistakes.”

“Are you kidding? I’ve been spinning Josh’s messes for years!”

“I heard that!” Josh shouts from in front of us.

“Notice he didn’t correct me,” Donna says even louder.

“Very funny, Donnatella!” he half growls, half laughs. Matt and I share a smile over their antics. Maybe this campaign won’t be quite so painful after all.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Dad…”

“…and I asked you, very politely, not to go in the first place.”

“Dad…”

“VERY politely,” he emphasizes.

“And I refused just as politely,” I point out. He’s not the only Bartlet who can debate.

“It’s just that every time you make a comment of any kind in the press, they dredge up the divorce and the…circumstances surrounding it.” Dad is careful to skirt around the issue, no pun intended.

“My husband had an affair. In fact, he had several. The only one who should be ashamed of that is Doug.”

“I agree, but it has to be hard for you, and the kids, to hear the details over and over.”

“I’m not hiding in a cave until this blows over. If I have something to say about an issue, including the issue of Presidential campaigns, I’ll say something. I appreciate the fact that you can’t wade in here but…”

“You don’t think having all three of my daughters at Skinner’s campaign event is all but assuring people that I’m in his camp?” he scoffs.

“I can’t help what people surmise, Dad,” I shrug. “If I were you, I’d do what I’ve had to do over the years when people asked me to comment on something you’ve said or done. Say, ‘The views expressed by my family may not reflect views held by me’.”

“Very funny, Elizabeth,” Dad sits down and huffs out a breath. 

“Dad, I’m done sitting quietly. I’m standing up and speaking my mind just like you taught me to,” I add. “If that makes things uncomfortable for you, I’m truly sorry, but it’s not going to change anytime soon. Ellie, Zoey and I have strong feelings about this election. We’re all going to be involved.”  
“That much I understand,” Dad drawls.

“Are we okay?” I ask to be sure.

“Yes, we’re okay.” He holds out a hand for me, beckoning me closer. I take his hand in mine and he pulls me into a hug. “I’ve never been anything but proud of you, Liz; never. All through this divorce business, you’ve put the kids first and taken the high road. You do what you need to do about this election. CJ can worry about the spin.” 

“Thanks, Daddy,” I hug him tightly. 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“It’s very…flat,” Scott offers at his first glimpse of Iowa.

“Nah…that’s the hilly part,” Matt jokes and I cringe.

“Okay, okay. That’s fine while it’s just us here, but let’s lose the Iowa jokes now before we have big trouble with someone overhearing us,” I warn.

“Hey guys. Guess what Iowa stands for?” Donna joins us at the front of the bus. “Idiots Out Wandering Around.” They all laugh.

“Would you please stop?” I request nicely. “And where are our children?” 

“They’re at the back of the bus talking with the press and playing with sharp knives,” she deadpans. “Piper is watching them. That’s what we hired her for, remember?” Do I ever. Piper is working on her dissertation and has agreed to work as our nanny during the campaign while she finishes it. It’s a little unconventional, I’ll grant you, but it’s a win/win so…Plus, when you’re running the first openly gay candidate for President, people mostly expect the unconventional.

I roll my eyes and address Matt. “Hit me with the bullet points.”

“We’ve done them a hundred times already,” Matt complains. 

“Hell, *I* could do the bullet points by now,” Scott mutters. 

“Great, then maybe YOU should be running,” I snark back.

“Josh,” Donna gives me the warning tone. 

“Matt. The bullet points, please,” I request nicely. Matt spits them out with ease. He’s going to struggle here. Iowa tends to be more conservative. They’re going to be leery of the East Coast elitist, and when you add in the homosexual factor…So, he needs to be on his toes here. Scott has been instructed to be the strong, silent type on this swing. I want the people to get a chance to get to know Matt.

When we get off the bus, I make sure Matt, alone, leaves the bus first. There’s a modest crowd there to meet him and he starts shaking hands and introducing himself. He gets peppered with a lot of questions and takes his time answering each one. Like New Hampshire, this is retail politics. If Matt impresses one person here, they’ll tell 10 of their friends about it. The press follows slowly behind asking people if they’d be able to support a gay candidate. There are a lot of versions of ‘depends on the candidate’ type answers. I’ll take that. 

“You sure you want me to do this introduction?” Scott asks from behind me, watching Matt work the crowd. 

“Absolutely,” I nod. “You’ve got your remarks?” I double check. It was Donna’s job to prep Scott for the intro. It’s not that I don’t trust her…I just don’t trust anybody on campaigns.

“I memorized it,” he admits sheepishly. 

“No, that’s great. It will look more natural if you’re not reading from notes.”

“That’s what Donna said.” 

“She’s very smart about this stuff. I taught her everything she knows,” I explain.

“Really?”

“Oh yeah. When she first came to Washington? She had no clue about politics, and what little she learned at first was in a Republican Congressman’s office so…”

“She’s very lucky to have had you to teach her,” he says solemnly. 

“Well…” Then I pick up the smallest twinkle in his eyes. “She’s right behind me, isn’t she?”

“Oh, yeah,” Scott nods and leaves me to my fate. Luckily, she loves me.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Lyman, this place is a dump,” she complains.

“Baby, we talked about this. We’re saving everywhere we can,” I whine and walk around the portable cribs to take her in my arms. “Think of it as the romance of the long shot campaign.”“Romance?” her eyebrow rises.

“Yes, romance. Long shot campaigns are very romantic,” I assure her and kiss her neck. “I know a little about long shot campaigns.”

“Yes, you do. What was her name? Mandy?” she asks innocently. Like she doesn’t know Mandy’s full name and current address. Damn Sam for telling her about that. 

“Baby, I don’t know who you’re referring to.” I shake my head solemnly and kiss her again. She giggles. I love that sound.“Daddy!” Noah calls out right before he tackles me. I reluctantly pick him up. “Hey, tiger,” I hug him tightly. “Ready for bed?”  
“It’s barely six, Joshua.” 

“He could be tired. We could tuck them in early…” I suggest.

“Easy Romeo,” she says as she pushes me away. “We’ll have to experience the ‘romance of a long shot campaign’ another night.” 

Well, damn.


	3. Matt for America

“Ohio, at least we’re not Michigan,” Donna quips.

“Or, ‘Ohio, it’s where your dad’s friend is from’,” Scott retorts and Donna cracks up. 

“Are you two seriously going to do this in every state we go to?” I demand. Like it’s not bad enough I’m in the middle of freaking Nowhere, Ohio right now. I have to deal with Laurel and Hardy over there.

“Do you know that in Ohio, it’s actually illegal to get a fish drunk?” Donna says in answer. “Apparently, it was so bad, they had to make a LAW outlawing it. I mean, who does that for fun?” 

“College kids, probably,” Matt replies. He’s half paying attention to the ridiculous conversation as he peruses the morning newspaper.

“Okay, tomorrow is Illinois…” I say with a sigh.

“What? I thought we postponed Illinois?” Matt says lowering his paper.

“Why would I do that?”

“I have to be in Washington tomorrow.”

Oh God, not this again, “No, you have to be in Illinois tomorrow.”

“We’re voting on Appropriations. I have to be in Washington.” 

“Do you want to be President of the United States or a Representative from Connecticut?” 

“At the moment, I AM a Representative of Connecticut and I have a House vote. The good people of Connecticut are paying me to be there for it.” 

“I told you that you were going to miss things,” I say through my teeth.

“And I told YOU we would need to agree on what those things were,” he shoots back.

“All right, do I have to separate you two?” Donna chuckles, but it’s got a nervous undertone to it. She doesn’t like when Matt and I argue, I mean, REALLY argue, because she ends up feeling like she has to take a side.

“We can’t just drop the conversation this time,” I say. “This will be an issue the entire campaign. Matt, you and I aren’t always going to see eye-to-eye on stuff like this. You’re going to have to trust me.”

“Or YOU’RE going to have to trust ME,” he replies. “Some things, I just don’t want to miss, Josh.”

“And yet, you’re going to have to anyway,” I glare. Donna rolls her eyes, then she gets up and leaves the table we’re sitting at in the hotel in favor of dropping down in front of the TV. Scott immediately joins her.

“I’m not going to make it to Super Tuesday, Josh! I think we can afford to make a few concessions.”

“Which is exactly why you need to work twice as hard as everyone else!” We’re starting to raise our voices now, which is usually indicative of the ‘debate’ taking a juvenile turn. “You need to come out swinging. People expect you to miss votes. If we’re going to do this, HOWEVER long you think that might be for, we’re not going to do it half-assed. If you lose, it’s certainly NOT going to be because you didn’t try hard enough. You’re breaking a barrier and it’s not going to be easy. I’m sorry to say, you’re going to have to sacrifice things!”

He looks at me for a moment and then cocks his head to the side. “Did Sam write that for you for just this moment?”

“Fuck off!”

He smirks and chuckles and Donna yells at me for swearing.

“Fine, I’ll go to Illinois,” Matt says picking up the newspaper and muttering, “You don’t have to have a brain hemorrhage over it.”

“Illinois…” Donna says.

“Please don’t pronounce the ‘S’,” Scott chimes in. Those two just kill each other. They should take their act on the road. Oh wait, they are.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Hey,” Josh greets with a sigh when he answers his phone.

“Where are you guys?” I ask.

“Ohio.”

“It’s a swing state.”

“Yeah. We’re in Illinois tomorrow.”

“I thought he was coming back here for the Appropriations vote tomorrow,” I say with a frown, looking over at the television and sifting through the reports on my desk for the remote control to turn the sound up.

“Yeah, he’s not going to make that,” he says a little tense and a little smug at the same time. 

I chuckle in response. “The candidate’s not being cooperative? What a shock.” 

“I tell you, Chris, he’s going to get my foot up his ass soon.”

“It’s going to be a long campaign.”

“No kidding.” He blows out a breath. Poor guy. But if anyone can put a gay Independent in the White House, it’s Josh. “What’s up?”

“What do you know about Matt Santos?”

“From Texas?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s been working on the Patient’s Bill of Rights and he’s got this totally crazy education plan, which is never going to fly, but I think it’s pretty gutsy. He’s only served three terms though, I think.”

“Yeah, that’s him.”

“Is he not running again? The White House won’t touch that Patient’s Bill of Rights with a ten foot pole, but I think he should keep pushing it.”

“Oh, he’s running,” I reply.

“All right, I’ll bite.” 

“You’re not the only dark horse.”

There’s silence.

“You’re kidding.”

“Turn on MSNBC.”

“Donna!” he yells in my ear. “Turn on MSNBC!”

“Please!” I hear her chastise in the background and I grin. She’s so good for him. I hear other sounds of the room as Josh puts me on speakerphone. 

“Holy shit, he’s running for President,” Josh says. 

“Well…that was unexpected,” Matt replies. 

“Shut up and listen to him,” I order and silence temporarily ensues as I hear Santos’s speech in stereo. 

“What are we listening for?” Donna asks. 

“Do you hear the tone of the speech? The style?” I reply. “It’s sounded like that since the beginning.”

“He’s got a ghost writer?” Matt says. “Big deal; so did I.”

“Yes, but it sounds like YOUR ghost writer,” I point out.

“Sam wouldn’t dare,” Matt scoffs.

Then Josh shouts, “Fucking Toby!”


	4. Matt for America

“How is this campaign experience different from your other campaign experiences, Congressman?”

“A national campaign is a completely different animal, which is why I rely on the advice and experience of my friend and campaign manager Josh Lyman.”

“Is it hard to work with one of your closest friends?”

“He’s doing all the hard work; I just go where he points,” I answer. “I’m very lucky to have him on my team. Josh has a great gift for working with people and he can keep a cool head no matter what happens.”

“This is the last time I’m asking nicely, asshole. Put Ziegler on the phone now!” Josh’s voice carries very well from the other room. I smile my ‘happy, fake’ smile. 

“Uh-huh,” The reporter nods knowingly. “You’ve had all three Bartlet daughters at your events at one time or another, is there any chance that the President will make an appearance for you?”

“None,” I say definitively. “I fully expect the President to back the Democratic nominee; whoever that turns out to be.”

“Speaking of a possible Democratic nominee, what do you think about your colleague Congressman Matt Santos throwing his hat into the ring?”

“I have the greatest respect for Matt Santos. He’ll be a formidable opponent even though we agree on several issues.”

“Such as?”

“We both think the next President should be named Matt,” I quip.

“What the hell are you trying to do to me over here, Toby?” Josh shouts again.

“I understand you have to get on all fifty state ballots in order to be considered on Election Day. How is that coming?” The reporter generously ignores Josh.

“We’re on the ballot in 32 states right now, so we’re over the half way mark,” I say proudly. “We’re optimistic that we’ll bring the rest on board very soon.

“God Damnit, Toby, we’re fighting for our political lives over here. We still have to get on the ballot in 18 states that aren’t big fans of a gay, independent candidate. Why’d you have to wind up Santos for a run NOW?” Josh continues.

“It’s getting kind of hard to ignore now isn’t it?” I ask the reporter bluntly.

“A little bit, yeah,” he nods. I get up and firmly shut the door between my room and Josh’s which decreases the noise from the next room but doesn’t eliminate it.

“Look. We’re a long shot campaign and we all know it. There are parts of this country that will never vote for an openly gay candidate for dog catcher let alone President. It’s an uphill battle and I’ve already been offered Secret Service protection based on the number and level of the threats on my life. I’m still here and I’m still running. If there’s any way for me to be elected President, it’s going to be thanks to my experience and integrity and Josh Lyman’s grit and determination.”

“Off the record?” he asks skeptically.

“No. I can’t afford to do anything off the record. I need all the press I can get. Print it all,” I wave a hand at him. “Bring it on.”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“We’re a long shot campaign and we all know it?” I read out loud in disbelief. “How could you say this stuff, on the record, to a reporter?” 

“It was actually your fault. You were screaming at Toby where the reporter could clearly hear you. It was either give him a better quote or have him report on the rift between you and the White House senior staff,” Matt says calmly as he drinks his morning coffee. 

“That’s the kind of decision we should discuss first.”  
“You were otherwise engaged.” 

“…that will never vote for an openly gay candidate for dog catcher?” I read again just for the hell of it.

“Josh, let’s not dwell on it. It’s done,” Donna says quietly while she and Piper help the kids get their breakfast in them instead of on them. 

“I will DWELL on it until he gets it through his Ivy League brain that he can’t spout off stuff to reporters about our long shot chances in this race. It doesn’t build confidence in the electorate with whom we’re trying to get financial and voting support,” I snap back.

“Daddy, too loud,” Briana complains.

“Sorry, baby. Tell Uncle Matt to listen to Daddy so he doesn’t have to yell,” I instruct her.

Briana just looks at me quizzically. “Daddy silly.”

“Out of the mouths of babes,” Matt chuckles. 

“Shut up,” I mutter to him. I have to be careful because Noah picks up EVERYTHING.

“Shut up,” he parrots and Donna rolls her eyes at me. See what I mean?

“Take this discussion elsewhere, Joshua,” Donna insists. 

“Fine. Congressman?” I motion toward the door to the adjoining room. Now Matt rolls his eyes but takes his coffee, and himself, to the next room.

“Are you having second thoughts about running?” I ask bluntly.

“No. Why?”

“I read this interview and then I thought maybe…I know the death threats are scary and you’re missing more votes than you’d care to. Scott isn’t on the road with us for a lot of this so…”  
“Josh. I’m committed to this campaign. I’d never ask you to give up a White House job and parade your family around the country on a whim. But, I’m not stupid. I see the numbers in the polls; nobody can deny that we’re the longest of the long shots.”

“So?”

“So?” Matt echoes. “What’s wrong with a little honesty about it? We’ll be the feisty campaign that tilts at windmills. We don’t care what the odds are, we know we have something important to add to the debate and that I bring something valuable to the table. I know you believe that; so do I. So what’s wrong with saying so?”

“People don’t always hear that well, Matt,” I say sitting next to him.

“Are those the same people who wouldn’t elect a homosexual as a dogcatcher?” he quips and I have to laugh.

“Probably.”

“Then screw them. We’re never going to get their vote anyway. It’s go big or go home, right?” He throws his arm over my shoulder.

“Right,” I acknowledge as Scott wanders out of the bathroom wearing only a towel. 

“What the hell is going on?” he accuses.

I jump away from Matt like he bit me. “Nothing,” I squeak. Both men laugh at me.

“Sorry. Couldn’t resist,” Scott chuckles.

“Ha, ha. You’re completely hilarious. You should take your act on the road. No, wait! You already have! Let’s see your recent reviews…” I pull the paper open to read the op/ed on our latest rally. “Congressman Matt Skinner and his longtime companion…”

“No! I give! I give!” Scott protests. I fold the paper back up in victory. 

“We need to be ready to roll in thirty minutes,” I inform them. “It’s going to be a long day, people.”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Campaigning with two small children brings with it some challenges that not a lot of people would even think about let alone understand. First, there’s the travel. Airplane rides, bus trips, train rides, and car rides. If you have ever tried to keep a two year old entertained on say, a three hour plane ride to visit relatives, you have only the smallest bit of an inkling about what it’s like to try to keep TWO two-year olds entertained in the hours and hours spent traveling from one campaign stop to the next. 

Then, there are the hotel rooms. They are not childproofed, so as a responsible mother, I bring my childproofing with me. Unfortunately, as a harried campaign advisor, I often forget the childproofing items in our hotel room which necessitates a trip to the nearest drug store almost every time we land someplace new. It should also be noted that a hotel room isn’t designed for toddlers. Thank God for Piper. She keeps them occupied and entertained beautifully, but still there are times when they make an unexpected entrance into a meeting or an interview with reporters. Luckily, they’re so damn cute that they get away with it.

Most importantly, there is a wardrobe consideration; not only for the kids but also for Josh and me. Toddlers get very messy and they have a gift for sharing their mess with all those around them. I’ve become adept at intercepting them when they’re on a collision course with Uncle Matt, but as parents? It’s impossible to avoid the carnage. This means packing three times the clothes Josh and I used to be able to travel with. It’s a minor miracle that we get ANYWHERE on time. Still, when I think of the alternative, being on the road without them, I get over all the inconveniences and difficulties pretty damn fast. Take tonight for instance. We’ve just gotten back from a fundraising event. It’s almost 1 am. If the kids were at home, I wouldn’t have this chance to kiss them goodnight or watch them sleep for awhile. 

“They don’t look like devils at all when they’re sleeping, do they?” Josh interrupts my musings. I slug him on the arm for the hell of it.

“Our children are not devils, Josh Lyman.”

“Sometimes they are,” he mutters. “Noah told Senator Jacobs to shut up,” he offers as proof.

“He’d have never offered that phrase if he hadn’t heard his precious daddy use it.” 

“I don’t accept your premise,” Josh shakes his head no and kisses my forehead.

“Of course you don’t,” I chuckle and his kisses continue down my face. 

“I could offer oral arguments,” he tells me right before he takes my mouth with his. The man can kiss I’m telling you. I get so caught up in it, in him, that I don’t even realize he has unzipped my dress until I feel his fingers trace my spine…all the way down.

“Joshua!” I whisper and try to knock his roaming hands away. “The kids!”

“They’re sleeping,” he shrugs. “We’ll be very, very quiet. You can just moan instead of shouting my name,” he adds with a chuckle. 

“Josh…” I protest weakly.

“I’ve wanted to do this all night,” he confesses. “You flitted around all night in this dress that is probably illegal in the Southern states, and the only thing that kept me sane that whole time was the knowledge that once we got back here, I could do this with you.” Oh. My. God.

I’m standing in front of him naked now since he kept undressing me throughout that incredibly hot speech.

“Let me make love with you.”

I nod, since I’m unable to form a coherent word and he moves me to the other side of the room; as far as we can possibly get from the portable cribs by the window. The nightlight Piper left on casts a dim glow on us. I’m completely naked and Josh is completely clothed; only his tie is undone. I push the jacket from his shoulders and start to unbutton his shirt while I move us closer to the bed, but he silently shakes his head no, and moves us so that I’m up against the wall. My eyes widen in surprise. We haven’t done this in…a long while. 

I move to unzip his pants and within seconds he’s moving inside me. I moan, just as he predicted, and even muster the energy to call his name quietly. He just continues to assault my body with his kisses and I swear I could melt after I fall over the edge. Seconds later, Josh joins me. Then he lifts me and carries me the three feet to the bed where we both collapse. He has to finish undressing at that point and I get to watch which spurs a whole other round once he’s done. He then has the wherewithal to toss me my night shirt and throw on his sweat pants. Campaigning does something to my husband…and it makes all the other challenges fade into nothing.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“You got a couple lines in there,” Josh tells me as he looks at the paper over my shoulder.

“So did your wife,” I quip and he chuckles.

“Well, she did look better than you.” 

“Donna? How much did that dress you wore last night cost?” I shout to her across the room.

“I don’t remember,” she shrugs. “But whatever it was, it was worth it.” She winks at Josh. I look up at my old friend and see his eyes smolder in response. Isn’t this sort of thing supposed to die down after several years of marriage and two children??? I guess I should feel fortunate that they didn’t cut out from the fundraiser early.

“Who has today’s schedule?” I shout to the room at large. Several aides hasten to bring me the latest copy of our schedule. It’s good to be the King. The only thing that sucks is that Scott couldn’t make this trip out with us. I didn’t realize how much I’d come to depend on him to keep me sane and in good humor. “What the hell city are we in, anyway?”

“Does it matter?” Josh throws back. “Just go when we tell you to and use the lines we give you.”

“Why don’t you just use a cardboard cutout of me and reduce some overhead,” I suggest.

“Donna? Toss that idea in the hopper and see what we can come up with, will you?” He smiles at her and she kisses him as she passes us. I’m going to be sick. People often ask me about whether I feel homosexual public displays of affection are appropriate. I tell them, ‘Hell, no. I don’t think any public displays of affection are appropriate’. They make me uncomfortable, and the waves coming off these two right now? They could generate electricity for the entire city we’re in right now; whatever it is.


	5. Matt for America

“Welcome to New Jersey!” Donna sings.

“Now go the fuck home!” Scott laughs back.

Unbelievable. I have to say, this has now surpassed annoying and now I’m actually curious if they can keep this up the entire campaign.

“Rutgers?” Matt asks looking at the schedule. “Why not Princeton?”

“How elitist do you want to look?” I counter. 

“Do you really think people are going to forget that I’m a rich, white boy from Connecticut?” 

“No, I do not,” I reply. “However, I don’t think we need to keep reminding people of that either.”

Matt looks up at me and nods. “This is fun,” I chuckle at his fake enthusiasm.

“Just keep remembering that this was also YOUR idea,” I reply. 

“Are you telling me you wouldn’t have thought of it on your own?”

“We’ll never know.”

There’s a group of people waiting for our arrival outside the hotel. It looks like mostly local press. We’re definitely gathering recognition, if not voting momentum. Matt, as usual, gets off the bus first.

“Congressman!” a male reporter shouts. “What do you think of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell?”

“I think it’s mandated by federal law,” Matt replies.

“But don’t you think it’s discriminatory?” the reporter follows up. “Women can serve in combat, yet, if the military finds out someone is gay, they’re discharged?”

“On the contrary,” Matt debates. “Military policy states that women are not permitted to serve in combat.”

“But they do,” the reporter says.

“Yes, they do.” 

“If a woman in combat is five feet tall and 120 pounds, she has to wear 25 pounds of body armor, in addition to weapons, ammunition, water, batteries, and other equipment that can range between another 50 and 100 pounds, which would be extremely strenuous to a body frame like that. Why would the military say those physical constraints are fine, yet a 200 pound, 6 foot tall male would be discharged for being gay?” 

I look quickly back at Matt, who looks unfazed. 

“You’re making this into a men versus women issue,” Matt says.

“They’re just examples, Congressman,” the reporter prods. “Why is a gay man less qualified to serve in combat, or even just in the supply room, than a woman, or anyone meeting that physical criteria?”

“Gay women have likewise been discharged under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.”

“And I’m asking if you think it should be repealed?”

“The Boston Globe released a poll that showed 79% of participants having nothing against openly gay people from serving in the military. In a Washington Post poll, 75% of Americans – including 80% of Democrats, 75% of independents, that’s me, and 66% of conservatives – said that openly gay people should be allowed to serve in the military. AMERICA thinks it should be repealed.”

“The Military Readiness Enhancement Act is before Congress now. Are you going to vote in favor of it?” 

“That’s not up for a vote until March,” Matt replies. “I’m not prepared to comment on a bill I haven’t completely reviewed.”

“So, you’re not going to answer the question?”  
“I’ll vote the way my district wants me to. That’s why they gave me a job.”

“A few years ago, you voted against the Marriage Recognition Act, too,” this reporter is pushy. I bet he’s from Newark.

“I did.”

“What’s your explanation to the gay community?” 

“That I voted the way my district wanted me to.”

“But if you’re elected President, you don’t get a vote in Congress.”

“Really?” Matt asks mockingly and I roll my eyes. “Well, I think I need to rethink what I’m doing here then. It’s certainly not to discuss healthcare, education, foreign policy, nuclear disarmament, an unstable economy, gun control or anything else worrying Americans today. No, I’m criss-crossing the United States to discuss my SEXUALITY -” Oh. Dear. God. “—because we really know that the guy that sits in the Oval Office is the guy that made it through while getting his character obliterated the LEAST.”

This isn’t happening to me. Donna is tugging on his elbow and smiling horrifyingly at the cameras. 

“Just a minute,” he tells her firmly. Now she doesn’t know what to do, so I push my way through the people until I make eye contact with him. 

I glare.

It doesn’t work.

I begin to employ every Jedi mindtrick I can think of.

“My job,” he mortifyingly continues. “my representation of the people of Connecticut, has NEVER been about my sexuality. My CAMPAIGN is not about my sexuality because my LIFE is not about my sexuality.”

“Thank you!” I step to Matt. He doesn’t look remotely finished, but I grab his elbow none too gently and gesture ahead of me. “Congressman,” I say between my teeth. Matt looks at me a long moment. Move, my friend, MOVE. As he steps ahead of me into the melee, I turn behind me and grab Scott, too.

I am about to become the first campaign manager who actually kills his candidate.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I hit pause on the DVR and look over to my father-in-law, a/k/a the Leader of the Free World, with raised eyebrows and a dropped jaw. 

“Josh must be having an aneurism,” he says to me.

“Wow,” is all Ellie can say.

“Now, those are brass balls,” my not-so-delicate mother-in-law adds.

“Abigail,” the President chastises her…kind of.

“I can’t believe he did that!” Ellie says.

“At least he has statistics,” Abbey says, rewinding the MSNBC clip again. The pundits are going crazy. It’s Christmas morning on Hardball. Matt’s blunt, unedited honesty is playing over and over on all the major networks.

“How bad did he hurt himself?” I cringe. Matt, Josh, and Chris always really sounded like one of the Peanuts adults when they talk politics. I’m no babe in the woods, but this isn’t what I do, or frankly, care about.

“He hasn’t done any real damage,” Abbey says. “He’ll be the candidate that calls it like he sees it, fiesty, just looking to make a lot of noise before he gets knocked out of the race.”

“What he did do, was get himself a newscycle of free press,” the President replies. “Josh will ‘no comment’ and spin it to Matt’s issues. They’re going to hound the hell out of Scott though.” He gets up, crosses the room and pours himself a drink. We WERE watching the game until CJ called with this. Actually, we were watching a couple of games. There’s no better place to watch sports than the White House residence; ESPN isn’t even this well-equipped.

“So then why would Josh freak out?” I ask. “Isn’t free press good?”

“It’s golden,” says my father-in-law with a nod. “But Josh has a playbook in his head. He has a meltdown when someone deviates from it, especially the candidate.”

Well, glad I’m not in New Jersey tonight.


	6. Matt for America

“Josh…? What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

“It LOOKS like you’re packing, but that can’t be right, because we’re not scheduled to leave for two more days and you never pack ahead of time,” I quip. He glares at me. “Josh?”

“I’m leaving.”

“Without us?” I try for humor again and for the second time in as many minutes, I fall flat on my face. 

“With you. Obviously, we’re not needed here.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I pull on his arm to stop him from shoving my clothes in the suitcase too. “Matt needs you desperately.”“He doesn’t need me. He can tank this campaign all by himself.”

“Josh…what did he say when you got him alone in the suite?” The two of them closeted themselves in the suite as soon as Josh extricated Matt from the howling press. There was a lot of yelling and I think a couple items may have been thrown, but then Josh marched down to our room and started packing.

“That he was tired of ‘dancing around’ his homosexuality. Then he accused me of being afraid to talk about it. ME! I’m the first person he came out to.”

“I didn’t know that,” I answer quietly. “He must trust you a lot.”

“I thought he did,” Josh quits packing and sits down dejectedly on the bed.

“Think of how stressed and flipped out he must be to forget that he trusts you implicitly,” I remind him.

Josh chuckles and kisses my forehead. “Did you learn about that while you were a psychology major for two weeks?” he teases and I smack his shoulder. 

“He’s probably more upset with himself than you are upset with him,” I add.

“I doubt it.”

“Josh!”  
“He went totally off message, Donna. He imploded!”

“And like you’re a stranger to imploding?”

“I’m not the candidate.” 

“So it’s even harder for him. Take a breath. Calm yourself down. Come up with a brilliant plan and I’ll tell Matt you’re coming over in five minutes.” I kiss his forehead and head for the door.

“A brilliant plan in five minutes?” he calls after me.

“You could do it in three.” I wink at him and leave him to come up with the plan.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

“Are you the cavalry?” I ask Donna when I open the door to her.

“No, I’m announcing the imminent arrival of the cavalry,” she tells me and kisses my cheek. “You okay?”

“I’M okay. My partner, on the other hand is having a nutty,” I indicate the closed bedroom door from which we can both hear Matt ranting about something…to himself apparently. 

“Josh will know what to do,” she replies.

“Josh is the one who got him like that,” I counter. I get that Josh is a brilliant political operative and I sure get that Matt trusts him, but after some of the things Josh just said to Matt I’m not sure *I* trust him anymore. 

“Scott, they’re just blowing off some steam. It doesn’t really mean anything.”

“It’s like he’s ashamed of me or my relationship with Matt,” I admit.

“Josh?” She confirms and I nod. “No! That couldn’t be further from the truth. Josh was the one who encouraged him to include you in this and…look, knowing Josh, I’m sure he said some stupid things in the heat of the moment, but he’s always that way with political stuff. I’ve heard stories about things he said to President Bartlet when he was running the first time…Anyway, he’ll be over here in a few minutes, they’ll figure out a plan and everything will be fine.”

“Are you always this optimistic, Pollyanna?” he teases me and tugs on my hair.

“She’d have to be to marry Lyman,” Matt says from behind us.

“It helps,” Donna agrees. “You’ve come out of your cave! Good. Josh will be right over with a plan of action to put us back on message again.”

“Oh, really?” Matt snickers.

“Really. It’s all about message with Josh. He was a little…surprised by your statement, but he’s going to walk through that door any second now and get us back on track. It will be a brilliant policy speech on economics or foreign policy. Just watch.”

And right on cue, Josh Lyman walks through the door. “You’ve got to give a gay speech, Matt.” 

“Wow, was I wrong,” Donna mutters.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“You’ve lost your mind,” I tell him.

“There’s plenty of evidence of that, but I’m right about this,” Josh insists.

“A half hour ago you said anymore of ‘this’ and the campaign would be over,” Scott interjects. I have the feeling that my partner is more than a little pissed at the way my friend was talking to me earlier.

“I hadn’t thought it through before I said that,” Josh admits.

“Well, maybe you should give that a try once in awhile, huh?” Scott blasts back. Yeah, more than a little pissed.

“Then I wouldn’t be me,” Josh shrugs. “It’s like when Kennedy had to give a speech on Catholicism. Give one solid speech on the issue people are concerned about, answer all the questions in a follow up, and then it will be behind you.”

“Technically, I’m next to him,” Scott interjects again and Josh sighs.

“The issue will be behind him,” Josh clarifies. “Nobody wants you behind him.” Scott looks slightly mollified. “We say, given the conversational turn from today we recognize people have questions about your stand on homosexual rights and issues. We want to address them now so that there’s no misunderstanding going forward.”

“Really?” I ask.

“Really. We’re making lemonade, Matt. Work with me here.” There’s a long pause and I look over at Scott who shrugs like this is completely up to me, even though we both know it’s not. 

“Fine, but you’d better be prepared to add a lot of sugar to help it go down,” I offer and just like that, Josh is off and running with ideas while Donna rushes to get them all down on paper.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“I’ve come to eat crow,” I say quietly and see Scott jolt in surprise at my appearance next to him.

“I wouldn’t imagine you’re very good at that.”“I suck at it, just ask Donna,” I agree. “Speaking of whom…She has pointed out to me that my words earlier might have been taken wrong by you.”  
“You said…”

“Please don’t quote me. I already feel badly enough as it is,” I interrupt. “I’m used to blowing off steam with Matt. We’ve always done that and I didn’t stop to think how it might sound to you. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.”  
“Then you still want me around here?”  
“Of course I do!” I assure him. “You’re turning out to be pretty good at this campaigning stuff. More importantly, you love my best friend and he loves you. He needs you here. We all do. You and Donna are the voices of reason.”

“You honestly think this speech and the Q &A will help?”

“Honestly?” I hesitate. “I have no idea. But there isn’t anyplace else to go with it. It’ll either catapult us over the mess or so deep into the muck that we’ll never get out again and my best friend’s political career will be ruined.”  
“So…no big deal then?” Scott jokes and I know he’s forgiven me.

“Not for you and me,” I joke back and we share a chuckle. 

“I don’t know about being front and center for this thing.”

“That’s between you and Matt,” I answer, while holding my hands up in surrender. I’ve learned one thing on this campaign; you don’t get in the middle of these two. “But I know he wants you there.”

“Then I’d better pick out a sharp suit for the cameras,” Scott concedes. 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Who wrote it?” Toby demands.

“The candidate,” I answer smugly. It’s nice working for a smart, eloquent candidate.

“Seriously, who wrote it?” he asks again.

“Matt wrote it, Tobus. It came straight from his heart and his head. I just helped him tweak it a bit. It came off well?”

“Very,” Toby replies.

“Don’t wax all poetic on me there, Toby.”

“Josh, yesterday, I thought you guys were toast. Today, not so much.” That’s high praise from Toby Ziegler.

“I’ll pass that on to the Congressman,” I promise as the man himself walks in. He looks drained but composed. “Got to go, Toby. Duty calls.” I hang up. “Hey, man, you were fantastic! How about our guy, Scott?”  
“He did very well,” Scott agrees.

“Very well?” I laugh. “Donna is still out there taking requests for you to speak. We’re going to have to extend our stay here. The insta-poll has your favorable up 26%! That’s amazing!”

“I take it you’re pleased,” Matt quips.

“I’m proud. And you should be too.” I embrace him. “Even Toby was impressed.”

“So what now?” Scott asks.

“We soak up all the free media we can here and then it’s off to the next state!” I announce and for the first time in this campaign, I start to feel my heart pick up with that certain rhythm.


	7. Matt for America

“Ah, the lovely State of Washington,” Josh sighs as we enter our darkened hotel room. 

“Help! Help! We’re being overrun by nerds and slackers!” I pipe in, flipping the first light switch I feel. Why do hotels always crank the heat up so damn hot? It’s like an oven in here. 

Josh chuckles at me. I think he looks forward to hearing what Scott and I can come up with. Before we can even get past the bathroom, there is a loud thud on the connecting door, a string of profanities follows and another thud. “Open the God damn door!”

I move to the set of connecting doors and unlock our side. Matt practically falls right through it.

“You’re not still going on about the People article, are you?” Josh sighs. People Magazine ran an article on Scott and named him the Sexiest Accountant in America, which sent Matt into some sort of jealous fit. Scott had to change his cell phone number.

“No,” Matt huffs and tosses a magazine onto the bed. “Donna, call your contact at Hardball. No! Call your contact at Rachel Maddow. I’m going to shred somebody!”

I pick up the copy of Newsweek that he threw down. The cover story is on America’s Best High Schools. “What’s going on?” I ask confused.

“Chris called; he saw it.” 

“Saw what?” I ask, flipping through the magazine.

“They can say what they want about me, and they can drag the man I love through the mud, all that’s to be expected, but they DON’T get to drag my friends into this. Everybody I know didn’t sign up for this!” Matt growls, looking over at Josh.

“What is it?” Josh finally asks.

“It’s a story about in vitro fertilization and American couples’ growing use of baby carriers,” Matt says. I can feel all the color drain from my face and into my stomach. 

“Is it just a story or does it name names?” Josh asks flatly.

“If it was just a story, do you think I’d be this pissed?” Matt counters as I find the article he’s talking about. There is a picture of Josh and I at a fundraiser and thankfully, NOT a picture of our kids or Piper. I set the magazine in my lap as I read the article. We’re not the only ones it names and though it does list our agency, it also doesn’t specifically tie it to us. The agency has confidentiality agreements, so I’m not expecting to see our name tied to theirs with confirmation. The article alludes that for the right price, rich American infertile couples can buy anything they want. Of course, our problem wasn’t really with fertility. Technically speaking, I CAN conceive a baby and POSSIBLY carry one to full term.

Maybe.

But that’s neither here nor there. Then the article goes on to talk about the psychological screening involved and how rigorous…or not…the testing is. This is the area of the article where our picture is conveniently placed. 

“I’ve been in public service my whole adult life, Matt,” Josh says. “Personal things have been printed about me before.” He holds out his hand for the magazine and I wordlessly hand it to him. It really doesn’t seem all that damaging. Josh is right. There’s always something being printed about him. He was a pretty visible member of the Bartlet administration.

“Not these kinds of things,” Matt says quietly. “It’s a warning shot across the bow.”

“By who?” 

“Chris thinks Hoynes,” Matt replies. I finally realize what they’re talking about.

“That’s confidential medical information,” I hiss to Matt. Of course I immediately get my fur up whenever the subject of Josh’s PTSD comes up. It’s probably a touchier subject with me than it is with Josh. I met him shortly after he returned to work after the shooting and before that whole situation came to a head. It was a crazy time to start a relationship, but Josh and I were drawn to each other from the beginning and though some people objected, Mike in particular, it seemed almost like we COULDN’T be apart, like the whole reason I came into his life then was to help him through it. It was not an easy time.

“Well, John Hoynes has already shown he’s not averse to sharing confidential medical information and he would have gotten a copy of the secret service report then.”

I look down to my lap and see that my hands have started to shake. Rage? Fear? Indignation that something I’ve worked so hard to protect has been violated? It’s a mixture of the three I think.

“I’ll drop out of the race before this happens,” Matt says gesturing to the magazine in Josh’s hands. Josh is eerily calm about this whole thing. 

“It’s already happened,” he murmurs, moving to lean against the desk, while scrutinizing the article. 

“You’re not an elected official.”

“I’m a public servant.”

“You’re just a guy with a job,” Matt argues and Josh cracks up laughing. He tosses the magazine on the bed and heads for the door. Right when he’s about to open it up, he calls over his shoulder, “I’m going to call Piper and check on the kids.”

The door clicks shut behind him and Matt and I look at each other. “I don’t like his reaction to that,” Matt says. “At all.” 

“I thought he’d be more upset about the exposure of the kids,” I reply, picking the copy of Newsweek back up.

“Donna, listen to me,” Matt implores earnestly sitting down next to me on the bed. “If whoever has this - and I think it’s a good possibility it’s Hoynes – if they leak it, it will follow us everywhere, it will come up every time we step in front of a camera or a microphone until it tanks us. We’re chasing waterfalls here as it is, Donna, if we go down because of this, it will kill him.”

“We’re doing better; we got a bump from your speech.”

“We’re not strong enough to withstand this.” He shakes his head. “We’ll go down for something, Donna, but it won’t be for this. I won’t have it.” 

“What can we do?” I shake my head at him. I have a hopeless feeling settling over me. Whoever has it, has it. Since the moment they saw it, they intended to use it against Josh. He’s got a lot of enemies in Washington. He makes a new one every week. The only people he trusts are me, Matt, Chris and Mike, I suppose Sam and Ainsley too. We’re the only ones who saw up close and in Technicolor how this actually affected him. I swore to myself that as long as there was a breath in my body, I would do everything in my power to make sure he’s never that bad again.

“What do we need to do?” I ask again, completely resolved. 

Matt smiles conspiratorially at me. There’s something thrilling about it. It’s his game face. His actual, real game face and I haven’t seen it come out in years. He’s suiting up.

“We fire back.”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Congressman!” Hoynes greets me with what I immediately recognize as his expertly crafted fake enthusiasm face. I’ve come to know it well. And if I’m being honest with myself, I knew that there would come a time that it would be used against me.

“Good evening, sir,” I say swinging through the door and closing it behind me. “How are you doing?”

“Well, I’m under federal investigation, Chris, and going through a very public divorce, so I’d say, not well.”

“When you play fast and loose, sooner or later you’re going to get burned.” I shrug nonchalantly. I never thought the day would come that I had to go toe to toe with the former Vice President.

“To what do I owe this unpleasant surprise?” He counters. 

I wonder if I’m not the completely wrong person to be making this particular visit. I don’t have Josh’s cunning or Matt’s sheer balls. Because of the two of them, I definitely have the face recognition, but I’m not sure I’ve got the clout for this.

“I’m sure you know,” I reply easily.

“Never tip your hand first,” he chides, waving a finger at me while turning and walking away to the mini-bar. Great. He’s drinking again. Well, it’s his political death. Far be it from me to dictate how he falls.

“I’ve never been much of a poker player.”

“What do you play?”

“Chess.”

“Ah. A man of strategy.”

“Well, it wasn’t really by choice,” I reply. He holds the bottle of Brandy up to me and I shake my head, declining his offer. “I had to perfect my skills at the behest of the President of the United States.” 

“It’s amazing how he can bend people to his will, isn’t it?” John shakes his head like he’s actually in awe. Maybe he is. “The man is bullet proof, as it turns out, literally.”

“And so you’ve adjusted your crosshairs to someone else?” 

“What are you asking me, Chris? Just come right out with it.”

“You’re planning on leaking confidential Secret Service information,” I state plainly.

“Not THIS old swan song,” he oozes sarcasm…and sliminess.

“You could go out with class,” I say.

“Or, I could take out a whole bunch of people with me,” he counters. “Especially the ones responsible for my downfall.”

“You’re the only one responsible for your downfall,” I reply. “You’re Machiavelli.”

“And both you and your friend were both so eager to learn at my side,” he replies. “Basking in the spotlight with me, craving the recognition and acceptance that came with it. Do you think people aren’t going to remember that?”

“Don’t do this, John,” I say finally, turning and walking towards the door. 

“Does Josh even know you’re here?” 

“Does he need to?”

“You are not ready to play at this level, Congressman,” he says as his parting shot. Once, that may have made my blood boil. I would have picked up that gauntlet and ran with it. But I like to think I’ve matured since then. I like to think I’m above where he slithers. 

“You’re wrong, Mr. Vice President,” I say quietly. “You’ve been wrong about many things. And there may have been a time when Josh and I thought you were the one, you were the real deal, but you will notice that neither one of us has been beside you for quite some time. Both of us saw you for what you really are. And if you think at the end of your life, you’ll be able to look back on the life you led, the decisions you made with pride, if you think you’ve affected the people you’ve known for the good…well, I suppose there’s still time. Like I said, you can go out with some class, or you can make a louder thud than you already going to.”

I leave him with those words and get out before he can get the final say, before he can call my bluff and figure out that I don’t know if we’ve got anything else on him. Matt’s playing with fire and he’ll burn in it to protect Josh from public – and admittedly probably personal as well - slaughter. But there was something in John’s eyes there at the end - fear maybe? – that makes me think that even if we don’t know if there’s anything else, that there is. There always will be.


	8. Matt for America

“We’ve crossed the state line into Florida and nobody is regaling me with useless trivia?” Josh asks.

“Amelia Earhart took off from Miami, Florida and was never heard from again,” Scott offers and makes me laugh. My husband, however, scowls.

“Is that supposed to be some metaphor for our campaign?” he asks.

“Florida has had six constitutions since it became a state,” I tell him and he absently kisses my cheek.

“Damn Southerners can never make up their minds.”

“I wouldn’t say that too loudly if I were you,” Matt reminds his campaign manager.

“He’s just frustrated with the long process in getting you on the ballot here,” I excuse Josh to Matt who nods quietly. Things have been a little…quiet since the article came out two days ago. There’s a pall that’s fallen over the key people here and that effects everyone else. “Chris is meeting us at the Cape Canaveral thing,” I announce.

“Why?” Josh looks up sharply. He’s figuring, correctly, that Chris wouldn’t just drop everything and swing down to Florida for the hell of it, but I merely shrug. Let Chris tell him. “Damn it, that can’t be good.”

“Let’s concentrate on the delightfully warm weather and beautiful sunny skies,” I suggest. “The kids are going to LOVE playing in the ocean.”

“They are NOT going into the ocean.” Josh objects.

“Of course they are!” Now Scott and Matt are giving us their full attention in anticipation of a marital squabble. 

“Do you know that kinds of things live in the ocean, Donna? The danger of the undertow? No, our children can play in the sand but they will not be going into the ocean,” Josh explains.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Joshua. I’m not sending them in alone to scuba dive. We’ll be right with them the whole time. They’ll love playing in the waves and practicing their kicks.”

“Not in the ocean they won’t,” Josh shakes his head decisively. “Tell you what? We’ll find one of those water parks here where they have the simulated waves and stuff. That should be fine…with us hanging on to them.” 

“What has come over you?” I ask incredulously. “We’ve been in the ocean plenty of times.”

“Not. With. The. Kids,” he repeats. I observe our audience which appears to be growing here at the back of the bus.

“I think we’ll table this discussion until we actually, you know, see an ocean,” I decide and smile innocently.

“This is not an argument you’re going to win by getting naked, Donnatella,” he warns.

“I win all the arguments when I get naked, Joshua,” I remind him and our audience laughs appreciatively. He decides to table this for now. Good choice, baby.

“What else have we got on the docket?” He asks.

“Congressman Santos has picked up four points according to our latest internal numbers,” Alan tells him. Alan is our new numbers guy. He’s a human calculator, I swear! He’s forever pouring over the latest polls/stats/demographics etc. 

“Four of OUR points or four of THEIR points?” Matt asks. See, we figure there are three different pools of voters for us; Independents, Republicans, and Democrats. Matt has a nice appeal zone with economic conservatives and social liberals. So Josh is really asking if that increase of four percent is cutting into that block or into the hardcore liberal base. If it’s the hardcore liberal base, we have nothing to worry about because we weren’t going to get them anyway. If it’s from our territory though…

“So far, he’s just picking up people on the far to moderate left,” Alan reports and I sigh with relief. I like Santos. He’s a decent guy and you can’t say that about a lot of people in Congress, but we really can’t let him siphon off any of the middle-of-the-roaders we’re reaching right now.

“Works for me,” Josh decrees. 

“His numbers are climbing though,” Alan adds. “He’s seen a nice spike in the last few weeks that doesn’t appear to be at a plateau.”

“His speeches have been a lot tighter,” I chime in for the hell of it. “And he’s been piggybacking off President Bartlet’s agenda quite nicely.”

“Why aren’t we doing that?” Matt demands.

“Because your Republican roots would show with a Democratic hair job,” Josh points out.

“Just because I’m gay doesn’t mean you have to put things in hairdressing terms,” Matt quips and gets several laughs at the table. Since he gave his speech on homosexuality it has not only freed the country up to talk openly about gay issues, but the staff seems much more willing to discuss, and tease, about it too. I was very impressed with how Matt handled the speech and the follow up interviews. Obviously, there’s a segment of the population that will never vote for him simply because he’s homosexual, but more and more people have been adopting a ‘so what?’ kind of attitude. That’s encouraging.

“How long until we get to our next stop?” Scott asks.

“Three and a half hours,” I moan. Maybe I can nap until we get there. Working a national campaign is exhausting!

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Matt! Excellent job on the speech,” I tell him as he gets off the bus.

“Thank you, Christopher,” Matt smiles grimly. I know that giving the speech wasn’t his first choice of response but he really hit it out of the park. “What brings you out this way?” He asks shrewdly. Matt isn’t running for high office on his good looks alone; he’s got wit and savvy. 

“I need to see the man.” I nod toward the bus. “Is he still on board?”

“He’s just finishing a pow-wow with the advance team. Go on in,” he invites me.

“Thanks. I’ll see you after the thing? Maybe we can catch dinner?” I ask.

“Dinner? What’s that?” Matt says derisively. “I have fundraisers with food grazing privileges if I’m lucky.”

“I’ll bring you something,” I promise and hop aboard the bus. 

Josh is right where I expect to find him; surrounded by staffers who are writing down his instructions furiously. I spot Donna and decide to catch up with her while he finishes his meeting.

“Donnatella!” I open my arms for a hug. “You look exhausted. Is that ogre you married keeping you working through the night?”

“Well into the night,” she tells me. “Then there are the kids…”

“You should take a break for a few days. Take the kids down to see Josh’s mom,” I suggest.

“Right. That would go over like a lead balloon,” she scoffs. ”You’re going to tell him now?”

“Yep. As soon as he’s through with the gathering there.”

“Fine. I’ll just head out now to avoid the explosion.”

“I was kind of hoping you’d be here to quell the explosion,” I mention sheepishly.

“He’s going to be very unhappy that you’ve gone to Hoynes,” Donna notes.

“Are YOU unhappy that I went to Hoynes?” I ask cautiously. If Donna is pissed, I’m screwed here.

“Hell, no.” She shakes her head to match her words. “I’d go myself if I thought it would do any good. There’s just no appealing to his conscience; he doesn’t have one.”

“It was worth a shot.” I shrug.

“I guess…Is it going to break soon do you think?” 

“Very soon, I’d guess,” I answer honestly and she shudders.

“When I think of everything it took to get him through all that…and now to have to relive it with a national audience.” Now it’s her turn to shake her head. 

“We’ll get him through it.” I rub her shoulders supportively.

“Get your hands off my woman, Wick,” himself arrives and warns me.

“Your woman looks like she could use a break; she’s exhausted man.”

“Welcome to our world,” Josh shoots back and grabs a Coke from the fridge. Without a word, Donna takes it from him and exchanges it for a Sprite.

“Hey!” He objects.

“No more caffeine for you,” she states unequivocally.

“Fine…” He agrees but his voice is kind of whiny when he says it. Then he turns to me and sighs. “I assume you’re not here to work on your tan?”

“It’s not a bad idea,” I reply with what I hope is a reassuring smile. It doesn’t seem to work.

“What’s up?” He asks seriously.

“I’ve got a couple things. Can we go back where we have some privacy?” I indicate the closed door at the back of the bus. 

“We need privacy?” he sighs again. “I can’t wait to hear this.”

Donna starts to turn around to walk OFF the bus, when I grab her arm and move her with me to the back instead. She glares, but her heart isn’t really in it. I can tell.

“There’s a reason Santos is ticking up in the polls,” I start as a warm up act.

“Which would be?” Donna asks.

“Lou Thornton has taken the reins,” I spill quickly and wait for Josh’s head to turn purple.

He instead responds very calmly. “That simply can’t be true, Christopher. If Lou had taken over, it would have been all over the news…or at least all over the gossip grapevine.

“She’s keeping it quiet at the moment and working out of her California office while she cleans off the rest of her plate. I got it directly from Congressman Santos himself. She’s also got Wheeler writing for him.” Wheeler is like a pen for hire. He’s very good and he and Lou have teamed up before; against Josh and his handpicked candidates. There’s a lot of animosity between Josh and Lou.

“Any other good news to ruin my day with?” he asks dejectedly.

“No…not really.” I hedge and Donna throws me another glare. This time she means it.

“Well, there is this one other thing…” I admit and Josh looks up at me over his can of Sprite.

“Yeah? What is it?” he finally asks when there’s nothing but silence for a full minute.

“IwenttoseeHoynes,” I spit it out quickly. 

“I’m sorry, you what?” he demands that I repeat it.

“I went. To see Hoynes,” I say more precisely.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Josh explodes.

“Josh, Chris was only trying to…” Donna tries to take the bullet for me.

“What? Screw me over completely?” Josh rants and starts to pace which is a trick in this small, confined space. “Now he knows it’s a weakness and that I don’t want it out there.”

“You don’t,” Donna notes.

“Yes, but now he KNOWS I don’t. This whole thing was a shot across the bow. You don’t RESPOND to something like that unless you can play hard ball and we got nothing to play hard ball with on Hoynes. He’s already under Federal investigation and going through a nasty divorce. He’s got nothing to lose and he wouldn’t mind taking me down with him.”

“That’s pretty much what he said, verbatim,” I admit quietly.

“See?!” Josh turns to Donna, throwing his arms up in the air. “Now he’s going to take an ad out in the Washington Post and the New York Times! It’s going to distract from Matt’s campaign just when we were starting to get traction! And that’s nothing to the personal and professional humiliation I’m about to undergo!”

There’s a long silent pause again.

“So…going to him was a BAD idea, then,” I sum up.

“YES!” Josh shouts and Donna puts a hand on his arm. 

“But it was very nice of you to try and fix things, Chris,” Donna tells me. “He was trying to help you, Joshua. And he went up against the Vice President to do it.”

This seems to mollify Josh a bit and he sits down again. 

“What do you want me to do now?” I ask quietly.

“Nothing. Please don’t help anymore,” he implores me and I nod, feeling like I’m about five years old. Just when I think I’m getting the hang of all this…

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Hey,” I say to announce my presence to my campaign manager. He still gets jumpy when people sneak up behind him. He’s currently sitting on a cement wall that separates the hotel property from the beach front. He’s staring out at the ocean, or what I’m guessing is the ocean since it’s late and everything out there is simply pitch black. “Guarding the ocean so the kids don’t get in?” I tease. The kids arrived an hour or so ago so I’ve left him alone to have some family time. Lord knows they get precious little of that these days.

“Very funny,” Josh tells me. “Do you want to know how many people get seriously injured or drown in the ocean each year?”

“Not really, no,” I shake my head.

“You can never be too careful, Matt, especially with children. Those two are the most important people in the world to Donna and me. It’s bad enough that they’re going to have to read all about how their dad is a nut case, I’m not going to risk bodily injury with them too.”

Ah, there it is. If Donna and Chris hadn’t told me about their conversation with Josh earlier, I’d have had no idea it occurred based on Josh’s demeanor that rest of the day. However, I knew it would come out eventually, and here it is.

“You’re not a nut case…or any more of a nut case than anybody else in professional politics.” I sit next to him on the low wall and nudge his shoulder. “Besides, they’re too young to read.”

“You should hire Bruno to run your campaign. You should call him tonight. He’s expensive but he knows what he’s doing and…”

“Are you quitting on me, Lyman?”

“You should fire me; fire me and hire Bruno,” Josh reasons. “It will still come out, but it won’t plague you like it would if I were still running the show.”

“I’m not firing you,” I tell him straight. “Now if you need or want to quit to make it easier on your family, that I understand and will accept…if I have to. But there’s no way in hell I’m going to fire you…for this anyway.”

Josh tilts his head back on his shoulders. “You know, there are whole periods of time when I forget that I have PTSD? Whole chunks of time where everything seems normal?”

“That’s because they are normal; relatively speaking. Josh, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Let Hoynes plaster it in Times Square, we will hold our heads high and focus on the issues. We’ll treat it as a non-story.”

“That will never work,” Josh says with authority. 

“Says you. I’ve got a Presidential campaign betting on something that won’t work.” My voice takes on a falsetto tone, “Congressman Skinner, is it true that your campaign manager Josh Lyman suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?” My voice returns to normal, “Well, yes, he has since the assassination attempt at Rosslyn. That’s old news, Karen. Everyone knows that, don’t they?”

“You think it’ll be that simple?” 

“No, of course not,” I relent. “But that’s the way we’re going to play it.”

“I don’t know if I’m up for a round of personal attacks, Matt.”

“Sure you are,” I nod knowingly. “There’s nothing you can’t do. I’ve watched you almost your entire life and now with Donna? There’s no stopping you.”

“You didn’t sound so optimistic the other day when the article first came out,” he reminds me.

“I needed time to think about it,” I come back quickly. “Look, it’s a risk, no doubt, but sometimes you have to take a risk…like letting your kids play in the ocean,” I throw in to distract him from issues of PTSD.

“Don’t start,” he warns and I chuckle. 

“Go get some sleep. It’ll all look better in the morning,” I promise.

“I doubt it, but at least I’ll be well rested for it.” He jumps off the wall and heads into the hotel, crossing paths with Scott along the way.

“Everything okay?” he asks.

“No, but it’s as okay as I can make it tonight,” I tell him. “I’m so grateful that you’re willing to do this with me. I don’t think I tell you that enough.”

“What brought this on?”

“Just contemplating life and all its ups and downs.” I take his hand in mine. “A quick walk down the beach before we turn in?”

“That would be great.” He smiles at me and for a moment I can forget all about the problems that are about to hit us tomorrow.


	9. Matt for America

“Hey, Jackass.”

Josh looks around and sees no one but himself. “I assume you mean me.”

“Yes, of course,” I reply sitting down next to him on the couch of the hotel lobby. All around us, staff is unpacking the bus and setting things up. It’s nice not to feel the urge to help at all.

“Something I can do for you, CONGRESSMAN?” 

“You know what the good thing about Chris is?” I open.

He sighs and looks at me. “He has many good qualities.”

“Yes, he does,” I confirm. “For instance, he’ll take on John Hoynes to protect you, all the while not fessing up that it was ME that sent him. Isn’t it great the way he can take two bullets like that?” Now that he’s calmed down from the initial shock, it’s time to come clean. That and Mike heard Chris was there from the agents that have Hoynes under house arrest and threatened me that he’d tell Josh that I sent him.

“Why on EARTH did you do that, Matthew?” he groans. He drops his pen into the binder in his lap and his head flops back into the couch cushions.

“Because sometimes I do things that you don’t like and I could really give a shit what you think about it,” I say simply.

“Why didn’t he tell me that?”

“I’m telling you.” Under the threat of bodily harm from a certain FBI agent…

“Why didn’t you tell me about it the other night?”

“You have to do this kind of stuff in stages with you, baby steps.”

“Chicken shit,” he replies. I wonder if Lou Thornton talks to Matt Santos like this. I bet she doesn’t. Of course, she’s more of a man than I am, so…

“You can’t involve yourself in stuff like that,” he continues to lecture me. This is where Josh lives, telling me and everyone around him what to do. If he didn’t go into professional politics, he would have made a hell of a stage director. My poor friend is always going through some sort of drama.

“I didn’t step back from you when this whole PTSD thing reared it’s ugly head the first time, I didn’t step back from you when you were toxic during the MS blowup and I’m not going to do it now either. I keep getting elected because people like that I’m a man of my PRINCIPLES, and once upon a time, so did you.”

“I’m getting lectured,” he drones. “Who lectures the campaign manager?”

“The candidate who’s known him his entire life,” I say standing up. “Now, we’re in California where by the age 30 the women have more plastic than a Honda. It’s sunny, it’s warm and Matt Santos wants to meet with us. We’re going to hear what he has to say. You will be charming, respectful, cordial and most importantly, not open your mouth. It’s two members of Congress bumping into each other.”

“I don’t have to speak?” he asks raising his eyebrows.

“I’d massively prefer that you didn’t.” 

“You’re just using me for my brain, aren’t you?”

“I can tell you, it’s not your mouth.”

“That’s confidence inspiring.”

“If you can’t speak, you can’t piss off Lou Thornton.” 

“I’m going to piss off Lou Thornton just by walking in the room,” he counters. It’s hard to argue with that.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I watch with dread as the bedroom door to Matt Santos’ suite closes with him and Matt on the other side. Great. I can just see that headline now. Thankfully – and I never thought I’d say this – it’s just me and Lou in the living room. 

I hate her. She’s so annoying…and short…and right way more than I’d prefer…

“Right now, my guy is talking to your guy about joining his ticket as VP.” she says to me. “I think first he symbolically needs to refuse until after your convention.” 

“It’s not MY convention; I’m a Democrat,” I remind her. 

“I think the exposure would benefit the ticket more,” she says. “You and I…don’t get along. We’ve known each other a long time, and underneath the mutual hostility and loathing, I think we can admit that there’s a certain…acknowledgement of our win/loss records.”

I furrow my brow at her. Down at her…because she’s way shorter than me. “I think you overestimate my opinion of you.” 

“Don’t be stupid,” she says, and then shakes her head as an afterthought. “At least, try not to be as stupid as you normally are.” Have I mentioned that I hate her? “Neither one of us wants Arnie Vinnick or Bob Russell to win the election. Divided we can’t knock them out; but together, we can, we can control the ring. Think it through.”

I was.

But I’m not going to tell her that.

And I’m a little surprised by her using a boxing analogy. Then again, she is scrappy…

“Your…guy…” Short little feminist! “is pulling votes away from the democrats and the republicans. He’s not going to win, but he makes people think they’re at least not completely throwing their votes away. Plus, he’s, unfortunately, got you and you’re…not totally inexperienced in this area…” She trails off and looks like she’s in pain.

I grin like the cat that just ate the canary. “Matt Santos told you to be nice to me, didn’t he?”

“Didn’t Skinner tell you that?” she shoots back.

“No, he told me not to talk to you at all.”

“Well, I wish Congressman Santos had told ME that,” she mutters.

“You don’t pick a Vice President based on their campaign manager.” For God’s sake, John Hoynes’ campaign manager was a tool! I smirk, sitting down on the couch and putting my feet upon the table. Then, just to be a weasel, I stretch my arms back and lock my hands behind my head. I am THIS close from asking her to fetch me a drink. Donna would kick my ass though if she found out.

“Skinner --”

“CONGRESSMAN Skinner,” I counter.

“Congressman Skinner does have qualities that Congressman Santos admires and there are issues that they agree on…and at least THEY respect each other.”

“Do you have ANY idea of what our conditions would be?” I say. She actually cringes at the thought. 

“First Santos has to win the nomination.” 

“Which he can’t do.”

“He can if he’s got Skinner.”

“You just said no announcement until after the convention.”

“The independent convention; that’s before the democratic convention. Russell is a cardboard cutout. You’re not going to vote for him…or are you? Josh Lyman stays at home on Election Day? Mmmm, no, I can’t see it.”

I hate her.

Immensely, annoyingly, passionately, massively, downright detest, can’t stand the air she pollutes, hate her.

And her shoes are ugly, too.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“So, what do you think?” Matt Santos asks me. 

“I think I couldn’t fathom what you wanted to talk to me about, but I swear to God, I didn’t think it was that.”

“Off the top of your head.”

“Look, you and I both know that I’m not going to win the Presidency, but we can likewise agree that you aren’t taking your party’s nomination. Bob Russell has it sewn up,” I say bluntly.

“So, you’re going to tell me you’re okay with President Russell or President Vinnick? C’mon, Matt, be straight with me.” He laughs when he says it.

The thing about Matt Santos is he’s a genuine guy. He got into politics to improve education. His plan is…completely crazy, but not exactly without merit. It’s pretty gutsy, I have to give him that. 

“You’ve got Josh Lyman on your side, who can pull more tricks out of his sleeve than Houdini.” 

“That’s why you want me? To get Josh? Come Super Tuesday, he’s going to be job-hunting. I sure as hell wouldn’t stand in the way of his working for you.” 

“No,” he shakes his head. “That’s not why I want you, though I’m not going to lie to you and tell you it’s not an added benefit.” 

“You have heard that little tidbit going around about me that I’m gay, right?”

“I have heard whispers about it,” he replies. “You’ve seen the pictures of me where I look Latino, right?”

“It doesn’t bother you that my partner thinks you’re hot?”

“I’m a democrat.”

“That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t bother you.”

“It doesn’t bother me.”

“You don’t think it will when the nasty editorials and crude cartoons come out? Do you think it will bother your wife?”

“Well, she didn’t even want me to run for President, so I’m sure it will.” 

“Thanks for being candid.” 

“If there’s nothing us between us, Matt, there should be trust and respect.”

“Two qualities severely lacking between our two campaign managers.”

“C’mon,” he chuckles. “Throw Josh and Lou into a room together, wind them up and watch them go, you don’t think that will be fun?” That will be hours upon hours of entertainment.

“Josh gets along better with republicans than he does with Lou Thornton.” 

“See?” Matt smiles.

“Well, I’ll think about it,” I say standing up.

“I appreciate it.” He rises and shakes my hand.

I come out of the bedroom and there’s Lou and Josh. Lou looks smug; Josh looks unnerved. I take in Josh’s relaxed position on the couch and give him a stern look. 

“I told you not to talk to her,” I say and he pops off the couch.

He shakes Matt’s hand. “Congressman.”

“Josh, always a pleasure,” he replies. 

We make a quick escape, moving fast to the elevator, where Josh paces impatiently while we wait for it to arrive. He sighs in frustration. Once we’re in the confines of the elevator, Josh hits the button for the first floor and we both lean against the back wall. That’s not our floor. We step off the elevator and he pulls out his cell phone, hits one and send. 

“Donna, can you have security clear out the hotel basketball court and bring me and Matt down something to change into?” Josh asks his wife into the phone. “And please make sure no one bugs us.”

We look at each other for a long moment, an understanding passing between us that comes from a lifetime of friendship. It’s not a question of whether or not we take the offer, but how it plays out from there.

“All right,” I say breaking eye contact, “but I’m going to house your sorry ass.”


	10. Matt for America

I see it in her eyes the minute she walks into the gym.

“When?”

“A few minutes ago; over the internet,” she says grimly. She holds a folded set of papers in her hands.

“Put it away. I don’t want to see it,” I tell my wife quietly and she complies immediately. I almost question her about that, but then my kids come barreling in.

Cries of “Daddy” echo throughout the gym and then it’s “Uncle Matt”. Apparently, they want to play too. I hand my daughter the basketball which is almost half her size. She attempts to dribble the ball and stomps her foot angrily when the ball doesn’t cooperate. 

“My turn!” Her brother shouts and grabs the ball before it rolls away. 

“What is it that Donna has that you don’t want to see?” Matt asks me.

“The PTSD story.” I shrug and pretend it doesn’t bother me.

“Shit,” is Matt’s one word response. “Where’s our response?”

“We don’t have one. We’re not responding.”

“Bullshit.” Matt wipes the sweat from his brow after our vigorous game of one on one. Without another word to me, he walks over to his pile of clothes against the wall of the gym and picks up his cell phone to make a call.

“Matt, don’t do this. It will only make it worse.”

“Yeah, it’s me. I want to see a vehement response to the PTSD story in the next 30 minutes. Thanks.” He snaps the phone shut and tosses it to me. “Easy as pie.”

“You get embroiled in this and Matt Santos will rescind his offer so fast it will make your head spin,” I warn him. 

“I don’t think so,” Matt replies easily. “And if he does, then he isn’t the kind of person I’d want to run with.”

“You can’t fight my battles for me.”

“No, but I can and will stand with you while you fight them.” Matt lifts his shirt and sniffs. “Whew…I need a shower. Let’s go.” And just like that, Matt Skinner reminds me of why I’m fighting for him. He’s the real thing.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

“I’m sorry?” I heard him the first time, but I want to give the cameras a chance to roll. Josh Lyman is many things, but among them is my partner’s best friend so we’re all in this together and Donna told me just how to play this.

“Aren’t you concerned about a man with a serious mental health issue running your partner’s campaign?” The reporter asked again.

“I don’t know much about politics, but I know Josh Lyman. He was critically injured while in the service of the President and then went back to work at the White House. Can you imagine that? I don’t know that I would have had that kind of courage, the kind of passion for the work that he obviously does. Matt is honored and proud to have Josh as his campaign manager and nothing is going to change that.”

“What has Josh Lyman’s reaction to the story been?” another reporter asked. “Why won’t he make a statement?”

“He hasn’t read any of it as far as I know. He said he’s lived it so he doesn’t need to read about it.”

“And the Congressman won’t replace Lyman?”

“Never. Thanks guys.” I wave the rest of them off and enter the hotel room. That and Matt’s statement of support ought to help move the debate. Inside, the TV is on and none other than the President of the United States himself is giving a testimonial about Josh Lyman. So much for my press coverage.

“…has never affected his ability to do his job, and he has done that job better than anyone else could. Had he not decided to go out to work for another fine politician, he’d be doing that job still. If he decided to return tomorrow, he’d be welcomed back with open arms. I’d better not hear anyone questioning his abilities.”

Donna turned down the volume as the President left the podium. “Thank you, Mr. President.”

“I thought my statement was good,” I mutter.

“I’m sure it was.” Donna got up and kissed my cheek. “The Santos campaign issued a statement, as well as some other members of Congress.”

“It seems Josh has more friends than he ever dreamed he did,” I note and Donna smiles. 

“He and Matt should be back soon. He won’t be happy to be the center of attention, but he’ll get over it; especially with all this support.” Donna beams. I know she’s been worried about the fallout for her husband and trying not to show it in front of Josh. But now, on day two of the PTSD cavalcade, things were looking considerably brighter. 

“He’ll be fine,” I agree. “Now what’s next for us?”

“Josh has a team working on getting Matt on the ballot in the last four states. 

“What if he can’t?” I ask.

“‘Can’t’ is not in my husband’s vocabulary,” she explains. “Besides, we don’t have anyone really fighting against us in those states.”

“We have support there?”

“More like, they don’t take us seriously there.” 

“Ah.” 

And the door bursts open. “…and I don’t want you giving anymore airtime to it. Do you hear me?” Josh is berating my man.

“I heard you the first three times. Is there a reason why you feel the need to repeat yourself?” 

“Only because you fail to follow the most basic instructions. Hey, Baby.” Josh leans over and kisses his wife on the cheek. “What are we hearing from Georgia?’

“I’m fine, thanks. The kids are at the zoo.”

“*I’m* at the zoo,” he objects.

“Do you want to hear about Georgia or not?” 

“I believe that was my first question to you.” I love watching these two go back and forth.

Donna takes him through the arduous process of getting Matt on the ballot in Georgia while my eyes glaze over. Politics is not my thing. I work with numbers. I’m good at numbers. So when conversations turn to polls or budget issues, I can get on board. But this political maneuvering? I am lost. Matt, as always, picks up on this.

“Are you getting this?”

“Do I need to?” 

“It would be good for you to understand what the hell I’m doing here,” Matt points out.

“Great. After this, we can sit down and review the US tax code.” I smile and now I get a kiss on the cheek.

“Never mind,” he decides. Smart man. “Bottom line; we’ll be on the ballot in Georgia?” 

“It’s going to take another day or two, but it shall be done.” Donna decrees.

“That’s encouraging since the election is in 12 days.” Matt mutters.

“Whose job is it to handle the details?” Josh asks.

“Yours.” Matt and I answer together. What? I knew that one!

“Thank you.” 

“Donna?” An intern pops her head in the room. “We’re getting requests for a response to the President’s statement about Josh.”

“The President is weighing in on this? Does the man not have a job?” Josh exclaims.

“He does. But if he doesn’t want it anymore, I’m ready to serve.” Matt chuckles.

“We are NOT giving any response,” Josh tells the intern.

“That’s rude, Joshua. The President gave a very moving testimonial on your behalf.” Donna disagrees.

“So I tell them…?” The intern asks.

“I’ll have something for you to release in a few minutes.” Donna tells her and opens her trusty laptop.  
“YOU are writing press releases now?” Josh queries. 

“When it’s about my husband? You bet your ass.” Donna starts typing. 

Soon the door opens again to admit more and more people, all with questions/problems/  
announcements to share. I look around at this ragtag crew, all assembled for the sole purpose of electing my partner President of the United States and I’m filled with hope. Not about the Presidency, that’s a pipe dream (sorry, Matt), but about people. Everywhere we go, some moron or another is holding some damn sign about how we’re going to burn in hell or ruin the country with our wicked lifestyle and sometimes it really wears on me. Then I look around at these people who have literally given up their lives to do this and I feel hopeful again. And while the morons numbers are dwindling? Our numbers are growing.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

“Why won’t you discuss your conversation with Lou with me?” I ask again.

“Because it’s insignificant.” Josh kisses my neck. “When are the kids getting back?”

“Is it insignificant because you hate Lou Thornton or insignificant because her political agenda isn’t your cup of tea?” I use my hand to push him back in an attempt to get an answer, but he just takes my hand and starts kissing it instead. “Joshua! It’s been two days since your meeting with Lou and neither you nor Matt will discuss it!”

“Let’s not do this now,” he begs and takes my lips with his. “We only have a small window of opportunity before the kids get back so I say…”

“First tell me about Lou Thornton.” I insist.

“You’re killing the mood here, Donna.”

“The faster you share…” I let my promise linger between us.

“She’s talking about putting Matt on the ticket.” He quickly divulges.

“Which Matt? On which ticket?”

“Matt Skinner. On the Democratic ticket.” He pulls me by the hand to sit with him on the bed.

“I’m sorry. Is that Matt Santos’ to offer? Doesn’t he need to win the nomination first?”

“Once he has the nomination, once he’s at the convention, he’ll have to name a VP candidate,” he explains and I explode.

“That’s what we’re doing here? Scrambling for second place on the Democratic ticket?” We have put our lives, the lives of our children, and everything else on hold for this?

“Nobody is scrambling for anything!” He tries to kiss me again, but I get up and move away from him.

“Josh! He’s just using us, using Matt Skinner, to buck up his Independent creds and win the nomination. Then once he has that, he can drop us like third period French and we will have nothing to show for months of work, blood, and sweat.”

“Third period French?” he mocks my word choices? Now?

“Tell them we’re busy getting the Independent nomination and if Santos feels so strongly about the partnership, he can be OUR number two.” I shrug dismissively. “Tell them that.”

“I don’t need to tell them anything.” He raises his voice. “I run the campaign around here, and I already dealt with the whole situation.”

“Oh, you have?” He immediately realizes his mistake and begins to backtrack.

“I mean, there is nothing to say about any of this, which is why I didn’t even bring it up. It’s THAT farfetched.” He tries to coax me back onto the bed with him. “Come on, Donna. We’ve got the place to ourselves for one brief shining moment.”

“You’re thinking about this. I can tell.” I cross my arms in front of me and tap my foot while he squirms.

“It’s not an uninteresting idea,” he admits. See? Told you. “BUT…we’re not anywhere near being ready to discuss options like that, okay?”

“We’ve worked too hard and come too far to just fold.” 

“I’m agreeing with you, baby. Plus, I’d have to work with Lou Thornton and you KNOW how I hate that woman.”

“What does Matt say?” 

“Donna…”

“You discussed it with him…at length I’m guessing.”

“That’s my job,” he explains with more patience than I’d give him credit for.

“And what’s mine?” 

“Donna, you are an invaluable part of this team.”

“It doesn’t feel like it. You spend more and more time closeted with Matt…”

“Is that supposed to be a bad pun?” he interjects.

“…while Scott and I are left to…”

“Okay, stop.” He gets up and walks across the room away from me. “We talked about what this would be before we agreed to do this. I was explicit in my description of how many hours and how much stress would be involved. I distinctly remember going over it all with you and giving you time to consider every aspect of the decision as only you can. You told me you were with me on this.”

“I’m TRYING to be with you on this!” I insist.

“You have to let me do my job and bring you in when it’s appropriate.” 

“Just when do you consider that to be?” I ask as the door opens and the children come barreling in. Perfect timing.


	11. Matt for America

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

“Joshua, watch your language.”

“I’m not going to watch my fucking language; the kids aren’t here.”

“There are interns.”

“College interns. Give me a fucking break, Donna.” He rolls his eyes at me. “This situation calls for swearing.” 

“You could set a good example and show some maturity.” I glare at him. I don’t want to fight. Tensions are running high and whatever is wrong with the bus or the driver isn’t going to get solved by us blowing up at each other, but it was a natural reaction on my part and when he retaliated…well, now it’s a thing.

“This isn’t some candy-ass, conservative Republican operation here, Donnatella,” he rambles. 

“Candy-ass!” Ainsley shrieks. Let me tell you something, hearing the phrase “candy-ass” come out of my cousin’s mouth in her charming Southern drawl is one of the funniest things I’ve heard in a very long time. I step back now and let my cousin do the dirty work.

“Present company excepted, Josh mutters. But it’s much too late for that.

“YOU, Joshua Lyman, are an idiot.” The interns in question gather closer. Ainsley’s presence with us and on our team is a little over their heads right now. They like Matt because he turned Independent and that was radical. We’re a cutting edge, barrier breaking campaign, possibly about to merge with another barrier breaking campaign, and they like being a part of that. But in their world, its war and one simply does not associate with Republicans when trying to kick their ass in a Presidential election. 

Ainsley steps towards Josh and starts poking him in the chest. “What? Republicans don’t like things sexy, don’t like things dirty? I got news for you, you liberal son of a bitch, this particular conservative Republican DOES like sex, I DO like things dirty, I DO NOT blush at foul language, and there IS something to be said for showing some manners and charm.”

Josh’s eyebrows hike up to his forehead as she slaps her palm square on his chest and pushes him back a step. “I remember, once upon a time, being called a ‘blonde Republican sex kitten’ and not getting my panties in a wad over it. I remember coming to Sam’s defense over a harmless innuendo and having my integrity called into question over it. Just because I’m Republican, doesn’t mean I don’t like to let my hair down and have fun. It doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a good dirty joke.”

I take a look around our little gathering. Everyone that was on the bus is now off. The secret service is hovering near Matt. One is up with the bus driver trying to figure out what happened to the bus and why it might have broken down. If it doesn’t start in a few minutes, they’ll take Matt on. They won’t let anyone under their protection stand on the side of the road for very long. 

Matt, however, is enjoying the show. His lips disappear in a thin line as he tucks his elbow on his forearm and tries to hide the enormous grin on his face while Ainsley continues her rant.

“Your DEMOCRAT pea brain is responsible for the funding for this two-bit road show, which is why the bus is a piece of shit! But even if all of this weren’t true, YOU, Joshua, would still remain an idiot.”

A chorus of cheers and catcalls pierce the night around us. Josh looks at her a long moment while I hold my breath. He’s trying to decide whether he should start yelling at Ainsley, his favorite Republican adversary and cousin-in-law, or let it go. He’s not mad at her and she’s not mad at him. But everyone’s full of tension right now and it has to go somewhere. The Press traveling with us are certainly getting entertainment out of it, but no one’s worried about this little roadside tussle making print copy. This is the kind of thing they save for their books later on. These are the little nuggets they like to save and show off later. 

Josh puts his hands on his hips and then very gingerly kicks a little gravel onto Ainsley’s shoe. 

I roll my eyes and let out an exasperated sigh at the juvenile level he’s willing to stoop to right now, but Ainsley lets out a gasp that’s pure astonishment…followed by pure rage.

“These are MANOLOS you ingrate!” 

The last thing he expected was any sort of physical attack by her, so he’s completely caught off guard when she launches herself on his back, hooks her ankles around his waist and starts smacking him in the head. He, in turn, starts yelping and hopping around. 

“Holy shit! Get the She-cat off me! Help! Donna!” 

Scott leans over to me and says in a low voice, “What exactly is all this?” 

“Ainsley hasn’t been able to cut loose on Democrats in a while. She’s had to bite her tongue quite a bit, sidestep some stuff when people have baited her. She’s currently getting back at every Democrat that’s pissed her off the last few months and taking it out of Josh’s hide,” I explain.

“Literally it looks like.” 

I smirk back at Scott as a secret service agent steps up to where Scott, Matt and I are standing. “Sir,” he addresses Matt. “We’ll need to take you ahead in the chase car. The bus isn’t restarting.”

“All right,” Matt says with a glance back at Josh and Ainsley. “Let me get some stuff off the bus. I’ll be ready in a minute or two.” 

“Thank you, sir,” the agent says and gestures back to the bus door. 

Matt walks away and Scott follows. I turn to Sam, who is leaning back against the bus enjoying the show. Josh has twisted Ainsley off his back and has her in a headlock. 

“You’re pulling on my earring!” she shouts.

“Are you finished?” he counters.

“NO!”

He shoves her a few steps back and glares at her as she blows the hair out of her eyes. “Cool off!” he orders.

“Putz!” she retaliates. 

“All right,” I say stepping forward. “I think that’s enough for the B reel, let’s call it a draw.” 

Ainsley straightens her shirt and hobbles a bit over to her husband.

“I could have used your help,” she says primly.

“Oh, you didn’t need it.” He grins back and plants a kiss on her.

“I don’t mean to ruin Christmas, baby,” Josh says moving back to me with a huff. “But your cousin is a lunatic.”

“I know; her reaction was completely unprovoked and uncalled for,” I say solemnly. 

“It totally was! And look what she did to my cheek!”

I lean over and kiss the imaginary wound he seems to think is there with a wet, open mouth. “Better?” I ask innocently. 

“Uh-huh.” He gulps.

“Ready to be a big boy now and deal with the bus situation?” 

“Yeah,” he nods, putting his game face back on. He kicks the side of the bus, mutters, “piece of shit,” and I follow him up to the driver.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Joshua…” I purr, as I crawl across the bed on my hands and knees.

“Uh-huh,” he grunts, not taking his eyes off MSNBC.

“Why don’t you shut that off?” I say huskily and blow lightly on the back of his neck. His arms are crossed and he’s pointing the remote to the TV. I don’t think he even knows it’s in his hand.

“Olberman is skewering Vinnick.” 

“That’s his job,” I murmur and take his ear lobe between my teeth. 

“Matthews has our numbers down. I don’t even know what poll he’s talking about.” 

He’s in a zone. I’m horny. I’m going to have to take more drastic measures here. I curl around him and stand on the floor directly in front of him. He actually peers around me. I refuse to play second fiddle to Keith Olberman. I pull at the hem of my tank top and yank it over my head. He’s blinded by my bare breasts.

“Hello,” he squeaks. 

Then I take the remote out of his hand, shut the television off and toss the remote across the room. I put my hand on his chest and push him back onto the bed and stand before him topless.

“Oh my Lord.” He lets out on a breath. 

“Is it possible,” I say in my lowest, most sultry tone. “That just for a night, we can turn it off.” 

“Donna, there’s a lot going on right now.” 

I bend down, close the hem of his shirt between my teeth and then slowly drag it up to his shoulders. I let it go and then briefly take his nipple in my mouth. His breath shudders. With a feather light touch, I pull his shirt over his head and then toss it on the floor. 

“I’m very stressed out.” His eyes are pleading with me. Pleading for me to understand why he’s been such a maniac lately and to not drop him on his ass. The PTSD story, the Vice President offer, budgets, strategy, a shrinking calendar and never mind the fact that we have two children we have seen in longer than I care to think about. We have one campaign bus and it’s currently out of commission. Its maintenance budget was gone a long time ago spent on media buys. The amount of money in the war chest could probably fit in a shoebox. 

“Let’s see what I can do about that.” 

I nudge him with my forehead and we slide up the bed to the pillows. I kiss my way along his jaw, lazily moving from ear to ear, then down his throat. I smile a bit at the involuntary swallow, and then move to dance my lips along over his collarbone, nipping and kissing my way down his chest, over his stomach. I deftly disrobe us both from the waist down and glide my hands smoothly back up his body to his shoulders.

His hands run up my sides, over my breasts and back down to my waist then repeat. We’re bathed in moonlight and the room is silent, but for our breathing. 

“I’ve missed you,” he whispers.

“I haven’t gone anywhere,” I assure him. “I’ve been right by your side.” 

“I knew it was going to get hairy, but I didn’t expect it to get so…personal.” 

“You’re handling it well.”

“I feel like I’m going to snap at any second, Donna.”

“I won’t let you,” I vow, all humor gone. “Matt won’t let you.”

“Matt isn’t here to take care of me.”

“Don’t insult him like that,” I reply. “Don’t shove him up on that pedestal all by himself.” 

“He belongs on the podium.” 

“If he gets there, it won’t change how he feels about you or how he reacts when something crappy happens to you,” I reply. “We’re a team; we’re a family. It’s always been personal.” 

He gathers me in his arms and pulls me down to his chest, holding me close and breathing deeply. “I love you so much, Joshua, but you can’t carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. Sooner or later, Atlas shrugs.” 

He rolls us over and keeps his arms around me as he perches above. His eyes travel over my face, considering something. He must see how I worry about him. He never misses a thing when he’s looking, never misses a beat when he’s not too absorbed to pay attention. 

“How can it be, Donna, that every time I look at you, I feel just as I did the very first time I saw you? My stomach still knots and my breath still hitches. How is it that you still create wonder? It’s amazing.” 

“Joshua…” I whisper, my eyes fill up with tears. He can still break my heart. 

“I’m having a moment here; don’t screw it up by turning on the tears,” he counters. I laugh, but it dies in my throat as his mouth closes over mine. How is it indeed that we can still connect like this? It’s not old hat or comfortable. It’s still shocking and exhilarating. The anticipation and hunger still build quickly. 

Suddenly, I can’t get enough; can’t get close enough. I’m ready for him without any priming on his part and he plunges deep, deep within me, reaching that part that’s only touchable by him. The heat rolls from a slow burn to a blaze and the desperation mounts. I feel the flutter begin in the center of my body right before the pleasure takes flight and shoots out like lightning to my fingers and toes, pouring over me in wave after exquisite wave as I take all his tension into me and push it out in an eruption of feeling. Tears come to my eyes again as he tenses and then sighs above me. 

He falls to my side, struggling to catch his breath and I mold my body to his, fitting seamlessly together like two pieces of a puzzle. He is utterly relaxed and satiated. He kisses my forehead and is asleep in moments. 

An evening with Keith Olberman and his cronies? I don’t think so.


	12. Matt for America

"Congressman Skinner, with only a few days left before the Independence Party convention, you are clearly going to be your party's Presidential nominee, but how do you gauge your chances in the general election?"

"Honestly, I thought our odds of getting on the ballot in all fifty states was a long shot so I don't know that I'm the right person to handicap the race. My focus has been to get out and meet as many voters as I can so they can hear my positions on issues that are important to them. The rest is up to Josh Lyman and his wonder-team," I answer smoothly. The hurdle was never about getting the nomination. It’s getting taken seriously in the general…and everybody knows it.

“Congressman?” Donna beckons me.

“Excuse me.” I excuse myself and quickly follow Donna who is moving at an unusually fast pace; even for Donna. 

“Where’s the fire?” I ask.

“In our suite.” She answers immediately.

“Donna?” Something’s off here.

“Just don’t say anything until we get to our suite.” She advises me. This has turned all cloak and dagger very fast. I take her advice and follow her silently to the suite she shares with her husband, twin children, and nanny. It’s usually like a three ring circus in there, but today it’s different. It’s completely empty except for Josh, Matt Santos and Lou Thornton. Matt and Lou are seated but Josh is doing his pacing thing. He turns abruptly to face us.

“Shut the door.” He tells Donna and she merely arches an eyebrow until she follows his command with the word “please”. 

“This is quite the gathering.” I reach over to shake hands with Matt. “Good to see you, Matt, but shouldn’t you be in California right now?” The final Democratic primary is in less than a week and he’s ‘this close’ to passing up the sitting Vice President.

“That’s our next stop.” He smiles. “We had a bit of a…brainstorming session last night and we wanted to get your take on it.”

“Sure, because you know our campaign is your biggest threat going forward.” I snark. 

“Not our biggest threat, but you might be a bigger player than you anticipated,” Lou chimes in. She has a half grin on her face and she’s watching me far too closely.

“They have a proposal for you,” Josh says evenly. 

“Let’s hear it.” I head to the bar to pour a drink. I think I’m going to need it. 

“I’d like an opportunity to address your convention,” Matt Santos tells us.

“You’re not happy with speaking at the Democratic convention?”

“Thrilled. But I’d like the chance to speak at yours.”

“You’re going to endorse me?” We’re just playing cat and mouse now. We all know what they’re really talking about.

“Yes.” He smiles. “As the Vice-Presidential candidate on the first cross party ticket in decades.”

“You need this kind of boost to cross the finish line?” I ask.

“We both do and together we can reach votes and issues that neither of us could dream of on our own,” Santos continues. 

“Aren’t you afraid this could backfire on you and screw you with the nomination?” I wonder aloud.

“No.” Santos answers as Lou responds, “Yes,” at the same exact moment. 

“Are we afraid this could screw us?” I ask Josh who hasn’t made a sound since the door shut behind us.

“I think we should hear what they have to say before we have a private discussion about the possible ramifications for our campaign,” Josh says enigmatically. 

“What we’re proposing would incorporate an endorsement speech from Congressman Santos with an announcement that we’re combining forces going into the general election. This would mean Congressman Skinner would appear at the Democratic convention as well,” Lou explains and I let out an involuntary laugh. 

“Sorry. It’s just…going from being a Republican to going to the Democratic convention? That’s going to give some of my people whiplash.” I take a deep swallow of Scotch. Yes, Josh and I discussed this possibility. We knew it might be an option, but now our convention is only a couple days away and they come out here with a game changer like this and expect what? For us to just roll over and give up all that we’ve worked for?

“I understand that attending the Democratic convention may make a few people uncomfortable, but I’m guessing you didn’t have their votes anyway. You’ve never appealed to the hard right Republicans. You hit the centrists. The people who want more fiscally conservative representation without all the moral majority crap that typically travels with it. Together, we could represent a new vision in American politics.” As usual, Santos presents a compelling picture with his words. The man has skills, and vision. But is it a vision I could share? And Josh, damn it, hasn’t asked a single question and won’t look me in the eyes.

“Let’s hear what you’re offering.” I finally sit down and prepare to listen to the details.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This is bullshit. Its absolute bullshit and I can’t tell if my friend is listening and participating in this conversation to be polite, or if he’s genuinely interested in joining a ticket with Matt Santos. So I’m just a guy sitting here. Finally, silence reigns. It’s my turn to take charge.

“Well, you’ve given us a lot to think about and very little time to consider our options, so if you’ll excuse us, we’ll discuss it.” I stand up and start walking to the door. Lou follows along quickly enough, but Santos lags behind for one final push.

“I respect and admire you, Congressman,” Santos says quietly. “I think we could accomplish great things together. I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t politically expedient…for both of us, but it’s hardly the only, or even the most important, consideration. We’ll talk soon?”

“Absolutely. Thanks.” Matt shakes his hand once more and then claps me on the shoulder. 

“Talk him into this, Joshua,” he advises me. Right. I’ll just ‘talk him into it’. Clearly Santos does not understand the dynamics at work here. Donna is already smoldering with anger that I brought this to Matt in the first place. She’s dead set against it. Once the door closes behind Matt and Lou she explodes.

“You can’t POSSIBLY consider this, Matt.” Yeah, she’s going to be an EASY sell.

“Donna, hold on a minute,” I begin.

“Hold on? YOU can’t possibly consider this.” She turns on me.

“It’s not my decision and it would be rash to dismiss the offer out of hand,” I tell her.

“Rash? It would be folly to throw away all that we’ve worked for to play second fiddle to a man that hasn’t even sewn up his own party’s nomination,” she responds.

“And you know this from your extensive experience as a political operative?” I throw back and instantly regret it when I see the hurt in her eyes. She’s come a long way with this campaign and she’s smart as a whip. I’m not trying to put her down but she needs to see the big picture and she’s not so good at that part yet. 

“I can’t believe you-“ I cut her off before she can get a full head of steam going.

“It’s not a slam, Donna. This is a very complicated situation and we need to examine it calmly from every angle before we respond. First of all, we need to know if our candidate is even interested in this proposal. Matt?”

“It’s not an uninteresting idea,” Matt hedges. “I have a lot of respect for Matt Santos. We agree on many issues. I guess the first order of business is deciding whether or not I could live with the ones we don’t agree on.” 

“I think the first order of business is deciding WHY joining their ticket is such a great idea,” Donna interjects.

“Because the odds of us winning, on an Independent party ticket, are…slim,” I answer. “However, we’ve been floating our own VP candidates, and we need to make a decision soon for their sakes as well as ours.”

“None of them can give us the bump that joining Santos could,” Matt figures. 

“Nor can he get a bump from anyone else that would help him as much as YOU could,” Donna points out to him and she’s right. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. 

“Won’t putting me on his ticket put him in hot water with his party?” Matt asks me.

“With the far left, maybe,” I acknowledge. “But you’ve crossed party lines many times; you were the swing vote on a lot of fiscal issues. Once they’re reminded of that, you’re going to be much more palatable. You’re already in line with most of the Democratic platform on social issues.”

“Matt, you are SO close to…” Donna trails off.

“Donna, there would have to be a nuclear accident that wiped out at least one if not both major party candidates before even Las Vegas will give me a line on winning the office,” Matt says honestly.

“Then what the hell have we been doing here? Playing at running for President? Is that why we put our family on the road and have traveled around the country like circus performers?” Donna rails at me now.

“Circus performers?” I laugh. It’s a bad move.

“How about the personal and professional cost? The articles about us, the kids, the PTSD...Scott for God’s sake! We endured all that to just jump on the Democratic ticket because it’s expedient?” Now she turns to Matt. He looks uncomfortably conflicted.

“I think what we need to decide is if you want a chance to govern.” I turn to Matt as well. “If what you want is to blaze a trail that you, or someone else, can benefit from down the road as an independent candidate, then you simply cannot consider joining the Santos ticket. But, if what you want is an honest to God chance to govern from the highest office in the land…”

“Second highest,” Donna interjects.

“You would have the partnership of the President who seems to be comfortable giving you a seat at the table and your own issues to navigate. Then in eight years, after the country has had a chance to see that a homosexual VP is no different from any other VP that has occupied that office, you can run for President on a whole different level.”

“That’s something to consider,” Matt admits. 

“Matthew!” Donna hisses. “Look at what you’ve accomplished already. On your own!”

“I’m not indifferent to what WE’VE accomplished, Donna. How could I be? But there is a definite advantage to joining Santos and I…” Matt hesitates.

“What?” I prompt him.

“Running for President. I want that and it’s not that I didn’t take this all seriously, but down deep I knew that there really wasn’t a way that I…I mean, it was easy to give it my all because I knew I wouldn’t ever be able to…” He trails off again.

“You couldn’t win,” I finish for him.

“Yeah. No pressure.” He shrugs with a half smile.

“Matt…” Donna slowly sits down next to him with a hand on his arm. “We could…”

“We certainly could,” he agrees. “And we might still. But let’s acknowledge right here, among the three of us, that this first run was for form; that there was no way to win the office. Maybe next time around, but this time? It was to get national exposure; to show people that an openly homosexual candidate can compete in a national election.”

“Do you want a real shot, Matt?” I ask him point blank. “To govern?”

“I really do,” he admits. “So what do we do? Call Santos and accept?”

“Hey, this is a win for them to have you on their ticket. If we’re going to agree to their terms, we should be getting something out of this too,” I explain.

“Like what?” Donna asks. 

“We’ll work that out. Right after Matt calls Scott and gives him an update.” Both Matt and Donna look at me with puzzled expressions. “Believe me when I tell you that significant others hate to hear about these kinds of things from the news.” I give Donna a significant look and she gives me a reluctant smile. “Call Scott. My deputy and I will start working out the details.” Matt nods and leaves us to make the call from the other room. Scott might like it at the Naval Observatory. 

“We okay?” I ask my wife.

“For now,” she allows and kisses me on the forehead. “Where do we start?” She asks as she pulls out her ever present notebook and prepares to deal with all the details that I’m about to throw at her.


	13. Matt for America

Are we okay? He asked. Are we okay? No we’re not okay! I changed my entire life for this campaign! I uprooted my kids for this. I uprooted me for this. I could have done anything when I came to Washington. I could have waitressed, I could have temped at an office, I could have gone back to school and become a teacher or a nurse. I had a free place to stay and an entire city to start over in. Instead, I got stars in my eyes from an idealistic Congressman, who, while he didn’t share my views, was willing to give a girl down on her luck a chance on the recommendation of a friend. 

And then I met Josh and that was it.

I need to up the speed on my hotel treadmill here. I’m going to need a hell of a workout in order to calm down enough to speak to them. And Josh should so know better than to think I’m going to air out my frustration and anger at him in a room full of people. There was apparently work to be done and that’s what I do. I throw myself into details. And then, the coward didn’t come back to our suite last night. That one stung.

Right from the start my life seemed like it was on a collision course that headed right for him. Suddenly, everything became about him. Learning about him, his relationship with these three other men, his job, his experiences and most importantly at the time, what was wrong with him. Because our relationship was put to the test right out of the gate. His friends were extremely protective of him, which only made me all the more curious about him. What secrets were there to him that made these three men so damn devoted to hiding them? 

Matt liked the idea of us though.

The traitor. 

So my life became all about Josh. Wanting the things he wanted. And I know when I put it like this, I sound like some kind of doormat, some woman that lost her identity, again, in a man. But that’s not the whole of it. Josh became my teacher as well. He taught me the whys behind everything he wanted and believed in and even everything Matt wanted and believed in, which goes to show how strong their friendship is because Josh could give a shit about anyone who doesn’t hold the same political beliefs as him. 

And so, somewhere in there, I developed my own opinions and they didn’t always fall in line with Josh’s. Sometimes they fell in line with Matt, who taught me a lot as well. I’ve worked for the man for five years, for crying out loud. People are listening to him now. He’s got a message that they’re responding to. Obviously, if he’s got the Santos campaign, which is also gaining momentum and scaring the hell out of Russell’s people, coming to him twice now, he’s a credible threat to them. 

This is the problem with Matt and Josh. They don’t clue people in. They have their own little mental conversations about things and don’t let the important people in on the decisions. They practically lost Chris as their friend because of it. They had to have known what their ending points would be to this campaign along the way. 

Did I think Matt could go all the way? Maybe I am naïve, but yes, I did.

“Hello, gorgeous.” 

I barely spare a glance for ‘Congressman-in-the-dog-house’ powering up the treadmill next to me and he immediately matches my fast pace. 

“You have frustration to work off too?” I fire the first shot. I’m not afraid of being completely honest with Matt. I always have been. He’s always played straight with me and I’ve always appreciated it. It’s probably how he gained so much of my damn loyalty.

“Scott’s…a little overwhelmed,” he confesses. “See, Donna, he didn’t think for a second I’d win anything at all. He thought that this would completely tank any future congressional run I’d make too. He thought this was my swan song in politics. So being told he’s now got a viable chance to be the life-partner to the Vice President of the United States has completely blown his mind.”

“Does he not want you to do it?” 

“He’s not always easy to read. I think he does,” Matt says confidently. “I’ve learned that Scott needs time to absorb things in his own way, in his own time. Unfortunately, Santos needs an answer kind of soon and Scott knows that too. So I figure he could use a little distance from me now to work it out. Sorry, that apparently screwed up your need for distance too.”

See? Do you see why I love Matt so much? He understands me so well! In the time since I’ve met him, he’s really become my best friend too. I grunt in response though and increase my speed. He matches it. I don’t think I can go any faster than this though, so he’d better not retaliate. 

“You’re disappointed in me,” he says breathing heavier now.

“No.” My first instinct is to protect my friend from hurt, but I know it’ll all come out shortly anyway.

“I see it. I saw how defeated you looked before. You’re disappointed in me and pissed off at Josh. Believe me, I’d rather be the one you’re pissed off at.”

“I was a wide eyed girl from Wisconsin, Matt. You took her and put her on a Presidential campaign. How could I be disappointed?”

“I’m not going to be President of the United States next year, Donna. Not this time,” he says. “I knew it all along, so did Josh. This campaign was about getting my name out there and in front of the American people, getting them to listen to me when I stand up in front of a camera for the next four years. Every time the next President makes a single move, I’ll be one of the heavies brought in to respond. That was the ballgame here. I don’t have an excuse for why you were under a different impression and I’m not going to try to make any. You’re a big girl, you’re playing in the NFL, and I’m going to need your A game for the next step. You either bring that, or go back to the Congressional office in DC. I can do it with or without you, but I’d rather do it with you.”

There’s no way he didn’t notice that I just missed a step and practically fell on my face here. Matt just treated me like a staffer. Matt has never treated me like a staffer. At first, it was Ainsley’s cousin, and then it was the girl Josh liked, and then the wife of his best friend. He has never treated me like a staffer.

I have arrived, folks.

Doesn’t make me any less disappointed. 

I power down my machine. I’ve been here longer than he has and I get a smug satisfaction from knowing I’m leaving him with a grueling pace and he’ll probably turn it down once I’m out of sight. 

“Chris drove down last night,” he says. “He’s meeting us for breakfast.”

“I missed the boys’ pow wow?” I snark. “I was wondering where my husband was. I thought he was avoiding me.” 

“He was,” Matt says. He powers down his machine for a minute and looks right at me. “That’s between you and him. As for us, I’m confident we’re cool.” 

“Sure,” I say coolly in return. He nods and powers back up, at, I note, a slower pace. Wimp.

As I cross the lobby, I see Chris walking through it. He’s dressed casually. I have no idea how he manages to stay trim, because he doesn’t exercise, that I know of, and he eats like shit. Ginger should really do something about that, unless he just eats like shit when she’s not around, which would be just like him…and Josh, come to think of it.

“Ah!” he smiles brightly when he sees me and opens his arms for a hug.

“I’m sweaty and I smell,” I respond with caution.

“Just the way I like `em.”

“Pervert.”

“Donnatella, I’m a member of the U.S. Congress, how can you think such a thing of me?” 

“See, you were doing well until you said U.S. Congress.” I laugh and let him hug me anyway.

“What’s got that beautiful face looking so troubled?”

“Oh, like you don’t know all the details.”

“Okay, I do,” he confesses. “Want to walk outside a bit? It’s a nice morning. It’ll help cool you down. I saw the way you were punishing Matt in there.”

“I think I might have been the one getting spanked,” I mutter.

“Really?” Chris looks surprised. “Do tell.”

I recall my conversation with Matt for him, every ugly part of it. “I might be in the doghouse with him,” I finish.

“You’re not,” he assures me. “Believe me, you’d know it. But Donna, if I’m getting all of this right, you’ve lost the big picture and I’ll wager that’s why Josh is currently avoiding you right now. Do I really have to tell you that they’re right?”

“I knew you’d see it their way,” I sigh. We just need Mike now to make it four for four. Actually, he’s probably the one I should talk to. He’s somehow made it possible for him to be friends with these three and stay out of the political stuff, despite being married to the daughter of the leader of the free world. 

“You lost it somewhere in there, Donna,” he says gently. “You made this about you, your family, something you and Josh were doing together. But it’s not, Donna. It never was. This is about Matt. It was from the get go and it remains about Matt. That’s what Matt was trying to tell you in the gym without having to say it. He’s going to make decisions as Vice President and yes, one day, President, that are going to be very hard for him, some of which will inevitably disappoint you, me, Josh, Mike, and the American people; and we won’t know his reasons behind it. This is apparently the first for you. But this is about Matt. Matt’s not going to govern by committee. It’s different in the White House. President Bartlet has advisors, but in the end, the buck stops with him and the cheese stands alone. You can step away from that part and still help and then you would be the one to disappoint him. But I know you’re made of tougher stuff than that. Anyone who can put up with the four of us for this long has to be.”

“Why do you have to make sense right now?” I mutter and he chuckles.

“It’s a rarity, I know.”

I link my arm through his as we walk along outside the hotel. They have an outdoor track that we’ve drifted along and we’re the only ones on it. Well, except for one of Matt’s off-duty secret service agents, who’s running laps.

“Now I have to go eat crow with my husband,” I mutter again.

“My beautiful girl,” he laughs. “Why do you think I had you out here for so long?”

“I love you, Chris.” I laugh as well. “I really do. But it looks like it’s over for me now.” I point to where I see my husband jogging out. It seems like a morning for runs. We stop at the gate to the track and Josh slows down when he sees us. Chris gives me a peck on the cheek and walks back to the hotel as my husband closes the distance between us.

“I could have been a little nicer last night,” he opens.

“I thought so,” I admit. “But I’ve since been reminded that I need to learn to separate things like this. I need to learn how to keep things at arms’ length. It’s a weakness of mine now.”

“Donnatella, I hope you never learn that lesson,” he says fervently and takes me into his arms, pressing a kiss against my temple. 

“I made it about me, and you and our family and our friend, and I forgot that it’s really just about Matt.”

“It’s okay,” he says. “I don’t mind that you’re making it about that. There was a time when there was nothing I took more seriously than a Presidential campaign, but they can be about other things. I’ll tell you what. I’ll keep my eye on the big picture and you handle the other stuff.”

“I’m good at the other stuff.”

“You’re awesome at the other stuff.”

“I am awesome at the other stuff.” 

He laughs and kisses me. We are okay. We’re better than okay.

“We’re in a good position right now,” Josh says to me as we walk a bit towards the track. “Santos wants us. Santos needs us and we’re not going to roll over nicely for him. We can make it happen, Donna. We can put Matt in the White House. It may not be first chair, but it’s a not too shabby end result considering. He can make a difference there.”

“And what are you going to do once he’s there?” I ask. We hadn’t really talked about that yet. “Will you go back?”

“Do you really think I’d make that decision by myself?” he counters. “You’d also be offered a place there, too. An important one. I might be winding down that part of my career, but you’re just gearing up for it and I’ll tell you, Donna, it’s an experience like no other.”

He says it so wistfully that I know he misses it. He misses being at the center of it all. He’s working his ass off to get there again, or at least, get Matt there. 

“Do you want to work in the White House again?”

“I don’t know,” he sighs. “I really don’t. I’ve been trying not to think about it.” We start a slow jog around the track. He and I haven’t run together for a while. It’s nice. I miss stuff like this. “On the one hand, I think ‘of course’ I’m going to do this with my best friend. I mean, it’s got Jed/Leo parallels all over it. It’s like cosmic fate stuff. But on the other, I think ‘been there; done that.’ And I think that more, you know?”

“Well, you and I both know if you turned down a job there, he’d still consult with you. There’s no way he wouldn’t. You’re too much a part of each other’s lives,” I argue. 

“I know,” he says. “And that might be the answer. But Donna, don’t let any decision that I might make in that regard, affect any decision you would make in that regard. Promise me that.”

“Okay,” I say, but he stops running, takes a hold of my arm and turns me to face him.

“No, Donnatella. Really promise me that,” he says earnestly. “I want that for you. I want you in the driver’s seat of your own career. I know how much something like that would mean for you personally. Do not make that decision based on me. I need for you to not do that. All right?”

Boy, does he know what buttons of mine to push or what?

I take his face in my hands and kiss him gently. “I promise.”

“Good.” 

We start to jog again in easy camaraderie, each leaving the other to their own thoughts. Josh is my best friend. He is my teacher, he is my lover, he is my friend, he is my soul mate, and he is my everything. Matt may understand me, but no one gets me more than Josh.


	14. Matt for America

There is a ton to do and very little time to do it in. There is already a significant amount of buzz around Matt Santos’ presence the day before our convention and though speculation is running wild, we’re not confirming anything to anyone except that Matt Santos is making an appearance at the convention. The circle of people who know the full story is very small and limited to only the most trusted members of both our teams. My phone is ringing off the hook, tons of calls going to voice mail, and though Donna is doing the best she can to keep up with my call sheet, I have to admit that even the organizational skills of my wife simply can’t keep up with this frenzy.

“Will Bailey for you on 3,” someone shouts to me. What the hell does he want? I really don’t have time for this, but curiosity gets the best of me. 

“Josh Lyman.”

“What the hell do you and Matt Santos think you’re doing?” 

“Will, how are things with Bingo Bob?” I just love to needle this guy.

“I don’t know what you and Lou Thornton are cooking up over there, but…”

“Lou Thornton and I can’t stand each other. I doubt we could agree on an entrée for lunch let alone cook something up together.” This is really like shooting fish in a barrel.

“Then why would Matt Santos take time out of his busy schedule running for President to show up and endorse another candidate for President at a different convention?” Will shoots back.

“IF that’s what Santos is doing, then he must believe my candidate is the superior pick for President.” 

“I think you’re doing an end run, you and Santos.”

“An end run would require someone or something to run around. Bingo Bob just isn’t enough of a candidate to warrant that kind of exertion.” I smile while I say it because we both know it’s true.

“Joshua!” Donna hisses at me. “We have lots of work to do. Stop sticking pins in Will Bailey and get off the phone.”

“Sorry Will, I have to go.”

“Josh, so help me God, if you and Santos pull some grandstanding stunt at the 11th hour…” Okay, I’m getting bored now.

“Nice talking to you, Will. Say ‘hi’ to Bob for me will you? Tell him to enjoy the office while he’s still got it.” I quickly hang up and turn to my wife. “What have you got?”

She starts slapping papers down in front of me. “A copy of the Santos speech, a new copy of Matt’s speech, the new order of convention events, a schedule of meetings with the key Independence party people over the next five hours, and an energy drink.” This last item she puts directly into my hand. “You’re going to need it.”

“I thought you said this crap was bad for me.”

“It is, but desperate times call for desperate measures,” she replies glibly. “The party platform does not require that Matt choose a running mate from the Independence party, but things get a little muddy here because technically Matt wouldn’t be running as their party’s President anymore. He’d be running as an independent VP candidate on the Democratic ticket.” She lets out a puff of breath to blow her hair out of her eyes. “We have our people reviewing the language.”

“We’re going to have legal from three different party affiliations reviewing it too, so remind our people to get it right.” 

“Oh, I guess I should have mentioned that before they stayed up all night drinking.” She thinks she’s so funny.

“Somebody was up all night drinking and I wasn’t invited?” Ah, there’s the man of the hour. And Scott is with him. Looks like those fences have all been mended. Excellent.

“Himself was just reminding us that these things need to be reviewed carefully by legal.” Donna fills Matt in.

“Since when do we care what legal has to say about what office I run for?” Matt quips.

“Since they could make us give all the Independence party money back if we don’t follow the letter of the law,” I point out.

“Shit,” Scott adds.

“Exactly.” I grin. “Santos will be here within the hour. I need you to look over the final list and make sure we’ve covered everything that’s important to you. This will be our last opportunity to negotiate.”

“About that…I have another item I want to add.” Matt sits down across from me while Donna shuts the door again. She and Scott exchange a look. This can’t be good.

“I’m sure we can finagle you a decent seat at the Tony Awards.” I try for humor and fall flat. This IS serious. Donna has stopped her frenetic movement and taken a seat next to Matt. Scott is standing behind them; a united front.

“Gun control,” Matt says quietly.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I throw up my hands. “After all the press I’ve been getting you want to bring gun control to the table? Seriously? Are you hoping to tank the ticket before you’re officially on it?”

“This isn’t about you,” Matt insists.

“Bullshit,” I reply vehemently. 

“Okay, it’s not ONLY about you. You know the stats. You know how many people are affected by gun injuries and deaths. The numbers are astronomical. It would be political malpractice not to address it,” Matt counters.

“We have. You have addressed the issue numerous times.”

“I want to take point on it.” 

I look at the man seated in front of me; my friend and the seasoned politician. “Of course you do.”

“Santos is on board with it,” he adds.

“You spoke to SANTOS about it already? Behind my back?”

“There wasn’t any coup,” he scoffs. “We were talking candidate to candidate. Partner to partner. I want to take point on it and he needed to understand why. He does.”

“It’s a mistake.” I shake my head and begin my pacing. “Politically speaking, it’s a mistake. If that’s your opening salvo, if that’s your rallying cry, the NRA is going to come at you with guns blazing, pun intended.”

“Bring it on,” Matt answers easily and sits back in his chair. “Are we going to make this count or not?”

I stop the pacing long enough to look over at the consolidated group in front of me. “Looks like you’ve already made your decision. You don’t need me to sign off on this. In fact, now that you have the Santos people you really don’t need me at all.”

“Will you two excuse us a minute?” Matt asks Donna and Scott who leave without comment.  
“I need to know if this is the political wonk talking or your ego.” 

“My ego doesn’t enter into this,” I rail. “I think you’re trying to throw this away. You were comfortable with the long shot campaign, but as soon as you have an honest to God shot at the office, you sabotage it with this crap.”

“It’s not crap.” Now Matt’s standing too and we’re nose to nose. “It’s a serious issue and it needs to be dealt with. Bartlet hasn’t been able to do it despite the fact he was a victim of gun violence himself.”

“PRESIDENT Bartlet,” I insist and step closer to him. He immediately backs down.

“Excuse me. President Bartlet,” He amends. “We need to take the ball further down the field. WE can do that. I understand that it’s going to dredge up some things you’d rather not talk about, and there’s no reason you have to, but at some point those children of yours are going to ask me what I did to try and prevent what happened to you from happening to someone else and I want to have an answer for them…don’t you?”

“Matt…” 

“We now have, as you put it, a real chance in this election. Let’s make it about something. Matt Santos has his issues, I have mine. Together we might be able to do something about them. Help us do something about them, Josh. Louise Thornton is good, but you’re better. Help me do this.” 

I can’t say ‘no’ to this man and he knows it. He’s simply removed Donna and Scott from the equation so I can fold in private. He’s got good political skills.

“As if we didn’t have enough work to do without this added bonus,” I grouse for good form as I hit the speed dial on my phone. “Donna, bring me whatever you’ve got so far on…”

The door flies open. “We have a lot on the gun issue already. The latest polls indicate that it’s one of the issues most closely associated with his campaign so it’s not going to be any kind of a stretch.”

“I’m already on board. You don’t have to sell me, Donnatella,” I drawl. “What’s next?”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Excuse me?” The President asks to have the last statement repeated.

“It’s going to be all over CNN soon.” I flip on the TV to verify my story. It’s not that my father-in-law doesn’t trust me on political matters but…well, yes, it IS that my father-in-law doesn’t trust me in political matters. He trusts me in matters having to do with the FBI and even values my opinions in those situations, which still blows my mind. But I digress.

“Matt Skinner is joining Matt Santos as VP on a Democratic/Independent ticket. They’ve been up all night working with the lawyers and party officials.” Finally, my confirmation comes in the form of a ticker on the CNN channel. 

“Holy. Shit.” Yes, the leader of the free world swears in front of me too.

“Jed…” Abbey scolds him and rolls her eyes at me in apology.

“This is…a game changer.” Jed opines and wanders around the room in thought. Ellie and our daughter are still downstairs, but I couldn’t resist the chance to trump Jed Bartlet on the political news of the day. Hell, maybe the year!

“Josh thinks it will either send them into orbit or dash them into the rocks,” I add because I can.

“You have to go back quite a ways in our political history to find two people of different parties serving as President and Vice President,” my father-in-law adds because HE can. “You see the electors have the ability to split a ticket when they cast their votes for President and Vice President, but the retribution that would come down on them if they did…”

“So how will this work?” Abbey interrupts.

“IF Matt Santos can sew up the nomination for President at the Democratic convention, he can name anyone he’d like as his running mate as long as the convention ratifies his selection with their vote.”

“So the convention can decide to support someone from a different party or refuse to and then Santos would have to choose someone else?” I ask for clarification.

“Sure. You see there is precedence in several examples through history. For example…” President Bartlet begins.

“Jed, you already answered ‘sure’,” his wife reminds him. I love that woman. Jed merely shrugs.

“So this is all going to come down to the National Democratic Convention?” 

“First, Santos and Skinner have to convince the Independence Party to come with them.” Jed nods toward the TV screen where both Matts are shaking hands and smiling for the cameras.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“What are you hearing?” I ask. Josh Lyman and I may not agree on much, but I do respect his ability to play the political game and move the pieces on the board. And since my boss and his boss are hitching their wagon to the same star we need to improve our communication process. 

“I don’t report to you,” he grunts. See what I mean? His wife Donna elbows him.

“I don’t!” he repeats. This time to Donna, but then he sighs and continues, “Your guy did very well in there. That helps.”

“He’s got a gift.” I smirk.

“So does my guy,” he rejoins.

“Obviously, or we wouldn’t have asked your guy to join my guy on our ticket.” I smirk again because he’s being such a pill.

Josh starts to growl, so Donna steps in. “Congressman Skinner still needs to give his speech but we’ve been meeting continuously with IP leadership and the numbers are turning our way. Some are pissed that the Congressman campaigned on their ticket and now appears to be jumping ship.”

“But he’s not. He’s keeping his party affiliation. He’s just running with a Democrat,” I remind them.

“A point I’ve made very clear to them,” Josh chimes in. “Most of the leadership are, while not thrilled with the ticket switch, pretty excited about the fact that someone from their party may occupy the VP’s office come January. It also doesn’t hurt that Congressman Santos has decent fiscal policy creds.” Josh shrugs. “It would help if some of our holdouts could sit down with Congressman Santos directly.”

“Done. Just tell me where and when and what buttons to push,” I promise.

“I’ll put the list together,” he promises in return and heads off…somewhere at a very fast clip.

“Does he ever WALK anywhere? Take anything slowly?” I ask Donna and she cracks a grin.

“Rarely, but when he does…” She trails off and wiggles her eyebrows at me. My eyes widen at her subtle comment. I think I like this woman. 

“Josh DOES respect you, you know,” she adds. I definitely like this woman.

“It may be true that I respect him too…in very specific circumstances,” I allow. 

“Then let’s get this done,” she suggests. Donna Lyman, I’m all for that.


	15. Matt for America

~Election Night~

“Ohmygod, Ohmygod, Ohmygod, Ohmygod…”

“Scott?” I ask cautiously.

“Ohmygod, Ohmygod, Ohmygod…”

“Hey, does anyone know what’s wrong with Scott?” I ask the room at large. He clutches his shoulders with his hands and arms hugging himself across his chest. He looks…well, he looks like he just bet too much and lost in Vegas.

“He’s been doing that since they called Pennsylvania,” an intern says passing by.

“Holy shit, Donna,” Scott says, finally looking up at me and clutching my hand. “He’s going to win this. They’re going to win this. If they win California, it’s sewn up. Can they really do that? Can they win Vinnick’s home state? Donna, I read that first and second ladies change their dresses almost NINE times on Inauguration Night because of all the balls they have to go to. Donna, I only OWN one tux. Does that mean I have to change, like, my bowtie nine times? And what about tax season? I’m an accountant. I typically have a very busy first few months of the year.” 

I turn around and glare at the room. “Who did this to him?” I demand. No one answers.

“I’m an accountant. I’m pretty good at math,” he quips pointing at the screen. “And when I get stumped by the wonder of electoral math, MSNBC, CNN and all the major networks are nice enough to do it for me. Donna, they’re ahead.”

“Okay, stop talking like that. If Josh hears you, he’s going to freak.” 

“Well, he’s welcome to join me because I’m in full on meltdown mode,” he says gesturing incredulously to the television still. “I’m not ready for this, Donna, he WASN’T SUPPOSED TO WIN!” 

The people around us look curiously in our direction. “All right, let’s go,” I say, yanking him up under his arm. I start walking swiftly for the war room door. Just as I get to the door, Chris and Mike appear. “You and you are with me,” I instruct.

“I have to spin,” Chris says immediately. 

“They’ll wait.” 

“Where are we going?” Mike asks excitedly. “Is there a secret party somewhere? Something only for people in the know?” 

“You’ve been doing top secret shit too long,” Chris says, then takes a look at Scott. “What’s the matter, Scott?”

“What’s the matter?” Scott asks. “What’s the fucking matter!? I’ll tell you what the MATTER is! My partner is about to be Vice President of the United States and I’m not fucking ready! THAT’S what’s the matter!”

“Okay,” Chris says, “My room is actually right here at the end of the hall.” 

“Perfect,” I mutter. Mike grabs the other side of Scott and escorts him quickly into Chris’s suite. It, of course, looks like a tornado hit it. We’ve recruited Ginger to help coordinate press and she’s been pretty busy. 

“All right,” I say as Mike takes position at the door and Chris pours drinks from the mini-bar. “Go ahead and fly off the handle.”

“This is a nightmare,” Scott says and begins to pace, thankfully accepting the drink from Chris. “This is an absolute nightmare. There’s never been anyone like us in the White House. What do I do? How do I act? Am I supposed to be some kind of hostess? Can I hire someone for that shit? I may be gay, but that doesn’t mean I like hosting a bunch of house parties. I want a job, I want to work still. I don’t mean to sound sexist, but I don’t want to be the wife. Just what the hell is expected of me?”

“You’re expected to be you,” Chris says. “You’ve got a lot shit thrown at you during this campaign and you made it through, win or lose tonight, by being you. As far as what’s expected of you? You’re right. There’s never been anything like you in the White House, so I’m afraid you’re going to have to write that book on your own, my friend.”

When did Chris get this insightful?

“And if people don’t like it, they can stick it where the sun doesn’t shine.”

Maybe not as insightful as I thought.

“Listen Scott, get a fucking grip,” Mike says bluntly and that stops Scott in his tracks. “Starting tomorrow, you’re going to have a staff of people specifically at your beck and call. Delegate to them so you can still do your job. You and Matt are going to have to figure out things together, it’s what you do. Now take a drink, man the fuck up and get out there for Matt. Don’t be such a fucking girl.”

I swear these boys give me a headache. Scott needed to be reassured, he needed to be soothed, he needed –

“You’re absolutely right,” Scott says and downs the rest of his drink. And because he knows it freaks them out, he grabs Chris on both sides of his head and plants one on him. When he turns to Mike, he practically falls through the door trying to get away. 

“I’m married and I’ve got a gun,” Mike says, “You keep your lips on the man they belong to.” Scott laughs, pats Mike’s shoulder and walks back down the hallway to the war room.

“Just what the hell was all that?” I demand.

“A pep talk.” Mike shrugs. 

“Five minutes ago, he was losing his mind.”

“And I called him a girl and he’s changed attitude.”

Boys.

Screaming erupts from the war room. Excited utterances, shushes, calls for me, Matt, Josh, all of us. We go tearing back in and fight our way to the front. I move to Josh’s side and grab his hand. He’s wrapped tighter than a drum. He’s so tense, he’s shaking.

“MSNBC is prepared to call the election for Democratic…” 

The room erupts. The noise is so loud it shakes the walls and windows. Hugs and kisses are given out judiciously. When Josh looks at me, there are tears in his eyes. I couldn’t be more proud of my boys. He kisses me long and deep and then we’re interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. 

“Come up for some air there, kids. This is why we book our staff their own hotel rooms.” 

Josh smiles and then turns around. “Congratulations, Mr. Vice President-Elect.”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

~Inauguration Day~

“So what do you think, huh?” I spread my arms wide and gesture to my new digs. 

“It’s not as round as I would have hoped,” Chris says, fixing a frown on his face. 

“Sorry, that office is occupied,” I reply dryly and he smirks. 

“It suits you.” He nods approvingly as Mike and Josh come rushing in. 

“You’d think it would take me less time get through security,” Josh complains. “Who wants to shoot you?” He waves a hand at me. These guys are killing my buzz.

“Ellie’s upstairs crying her eyes out over a house she hated and made it a point to hardly ever set foot in, so I’ve got a few minutes.” Mike announced. At least one of my friends is game today!

“Let’s have a drink!” Chris announces moving to the bar built into the shelves in the wall. 

“What kind of stuff do they stock in here for the Vice President anyway?”

“There used to be a bottle of Hennessy in there that looked pretty promising,” Josh says.

“Wow,” Chris says picking up the bottle and studying the label. “They don’t scrimp for you.”

“You should see what his boss gets.” Josh adds. 

“This is chess playing brandy!” Chris is in love. Ah, I can smell that photo op now.

“Is there a fridge there too?” Mike asks nudging Chris aside and looking down into the discreet mini-fridge under the wet bar. “I’d rather have a beer; I’d think Matt would rather have a beer.” 

“Matt doesn’t want to be tanked his first day in office,” I pipe up…just in case anyone cares about my opinion. 

“It’s a special occasion,” Chris retaliates. “You can show some class for one damn drink.” He pours four snifters and hands them out. “A toast to the new Vice President of the United States.” 

“Oooh, original.” Mike says and Chris shoves his arm. Glad to see my friends can still be relaxed around me, despite my austere new job.

“And his new Chief of Staff,” I add raising my class at Josh.

“Sam will be great!” he tosses back.

“Sam!? C’mon!” He’s been prepping Sam since the election. It’s not that this is news to me, or even that I think Sam wouldn’t do a good job, but I really kinda hoped that Josh would cave at the last minute. At least I got his wife. She accepted the position as my press secretary.

“It’s not news,” Josh throws back. 

“This was something we were supposed to do together.” I remind him sounding incredibly spoiled and petulant, but…well, no. I’ll admit to being spoiled and petulant. 

“And we will. I’ve got a nice contract as Senior Consulting Advisor to the Vice President of the United States.” He replies. “Sounds official and everything. I’ll lack a West Wing office, but I’m sure I can rustle up a conference room, should I need one.” 

“And just want are you going to do with the free time you think you’re going to have when you’re not at my beck and call?” I volley. “I’m a big fucking deal now, you know.”

“Yes, sir, I do. But there’s a Senate race in Massachusetts in two years. Someone has to get Wick ready for it.” 

Chris eyes go wide, his face pales and he nearly drops his glass. “Whoa!” he says throwing out his hands and nearly splashing the liquid out. “What!?” He moves back to the bottle and pours himself more brandy, even though he wasn’t finished with his first glass. Wow. I didn’t think he’d react like this!

“Senate Appropriations is a good place for you.” Josh gives him the same smirk I’ve got through my career.

“And if the good Congressman isn’t interested in running for Senate?” Now, it’s the “good Congressman’s” turn to sound petulant and spoiled. 

Josh arches one eyebrow at him and says, “Aren’t you?”

“I didn’t say that exactly; I just said ‘what if?’”

“He’s definitely ready to run,” Mike laughs. Chris looks a little dazed, but doesn’t resist when Mike throws an arm around his shoulders and suggests they go find his emotional wife and then hit Five Guys. I assure them Josh and I will meet them there, after my Secret Service detail gets together and I piss off my secretary by changing my schedule on the very first day and they leave the office and close the door.

“It is a pretty nice office,” Josh says.

“It’s not like you’ve never been in here,” I say and move to my chair to pick up my jacket and swing it over my shoulders.

“Not with you behind the desk.”

“Aww, you send my heart aflutter,” I quip, but the comment hit its mark. 

“We’ve had a lot of good memories here,” Josh says. “Remember that day when you slammed into my office after Toby schooled you on the census amendment?”

“You know, I’m Vice President now, I don’t have to take this kind of abuse anymore. I have a whole staff of people to take it for me.” He chuckles, so proud of himself. “You’re really not going to be my Chief of Staff?” I ask, coming back around the desk to stand in front of him.

“I’m here for anything you need, but we talked about that, sir.”

“We talked about the ‘sir’ thing too.” 

“So we did.”

“I order you not to ever call me ‘sir’.”

“Yes, sir.” 

“I hate you,” I hiss and he just laughs.

“Seriously though,” he drops his voice and I already blush. He’s about to say something unmanly. “No one is more proud of you right now than me.” 

“Thanks,” I say giving him a quick one-armed hug that’s over as soon as it starts. 

He and I have been through a lot; more than average friends I’m sure. Things with Josh are never boring. I’d like to blame him for everything, but most of it was actually my doing. 

“Let’s go load up on red meat before your wife finds out,” I suggest as we walk toward the door.

“The motorcade isn’t going to lend itself to any stealthy maneuvers,” he says.

“I’m gonna stick out like a sore thumb for the next four years.”

“At least you’ll have four years free of speeding tickets.”

I chuckle and call out to my secretary that I’ll be gone for an hour. She’ll learn soon that that really means two hours, but she’s still got stars in her eyes from her first day in the White House so I’m taking full advantage of that deer caught in headlights look. I close the office door and Josh follows me down the corridor.

~THE END~


End file.
